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Characters / Star Wars – New Jedi Order and Legacy Eras: Yuuzhan Vong

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For the main Star Wars Legends character index, click here. For the main New Jedi Order and Legacy era character page, click here.

This page is for Yuuzhan Vong characters from the Star Wars Expanded Universe series New Jedi Order, Dark Nest Trilogy, Legacy of the Force, and Fate of the Jedi book series, as well as the standalone novels Millennium Falcon, Crosscurrent, Riptide, and Crucible. The comic series Legacy has its own page.



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    Yuuzhan Vong in General 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yuuzhan_vong.jpg
A Yuuzhan Vong warrior

A powerful species of cruel humanoids, the Yuuzhan Vong originated from another galaxy entirely from which they were driven millennia ago. Arriving at the Galaxy Far Far Away, they launched a brutal war of conquest in the name of their gods. The Yuuzhan Vong are noteworthy for their complete rejection of machines in favor of Organic Technology as well as the fact that they apparently stand entire apart from the Force. They serve collectively as the primary antagonists of the New Jedi Order novels, in which much is revealed about their culture, history, and origins.


  • Alien Blood: They have very dark blue-black blood.
  • Always Chaotic Evil: Subverted. As brutal and frightening as they are, they're explicitly no better or worse than humans would have been under the same circumstances. Over the course of the series we're introduced to a number of Vong characters who, in various ways, defy the stereotypical image of their species.
  • Barbarian Longhair: Members of the warrior caste who aren't bald tend to wear their hair long and braid various decorations into it, and the inhabitants of the galaxy consider them the most vicious and barbaric of the Vong.
  • Berserk Button: Don't insult their gods, don't use inorganic technology, and above all don't call them "Vong" for short. Any of the above can be bad for your health.
  • Bio-Augmentation: The use of biological implants and other forms of body modification is a significant mark in status and when the implants take, it's seen as a sign of the gods' favor. If they don't, on the other hand, then depending on how bad the reaction is it's a best an embarrassment and at worst an instant demotion to the Shamed Ones.
  • Biotech Is Better: Subverted. Initially the Vong's organic technology seems to have a significant edge against the more conventional weapons of the New Republic, but it soon becomes apparent that this is less due to any inherent advantage and more in the fact that the Vong have spent decades preparing for their invasion and have worked out counters for most New Republic weapons and tactics, while they themselves are an Outside-Context Problem nobody was ready for. After a few books of fighting them, the heroes get familiar enough with their biotech to work out counters of their own, leveling the playing field.
  • Black Speech: The Vong language is extremely harsh and alien sounding, described at one point as sounding as though it's composed entirely of curses. On the other hand, if the literal translations given from it are any guide, it's also a rather flowery and even poetic language.
  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: Big time. The everyday actions of their lives make them seem horrifically Always Chaotic Evil to the eyes of the galaxy's inhabitants, and the feeling is mutual. A more subtle example can be found in their attitude towards doing things simply for enjoyment... namely that, by and large, they just don't. Tahiri mentions that the reason Vong food is so bland is that the idea of eating for pleasure is foreign to them, the few times romance and sexuality for any purpose but reproduction comes up it's always treated as something scandalous and shameful, and Denua Ku in Rebel Stand reacts with visceral disgust to having the concept of a massage explained to him.
  • Body Horror: Ritual body modifications are big, though its nature varies by caste. Warriors, for example, like big, obvious scars and implants to intimidate their enemies; Shapers, on the other hand, prefer more subtle - but often extremely potent - internal modification.
  • The Clan: In addition to the caste system, one of the most important building blocks of Vong society are Domains - large extended families that wield a great deal of political power; some Domains have members from multiple castes, while others seem limited to one caste. Domain Lah, Domain Shai, and Domain Kwaad are some of the most prominent Domains in the series. It's also possible for smaller Domains to be subordinate to larger ones - Domain Yim, most obviously, is considered a subsidiary of Domain Kwaad.
  • Colony Drop: "Yo'Gand's Core" (named for its inventor, the first Supreme Overlord) is a tactic that involves landing a giant dovin basal on a planet's surface and then using it to pull down a moon, smashing both bodies into rubble. Overuse of this tactic is implied to be the cause of the desolation of the Vong's home galaxy; they're much more sparing with it in the GFFA but get a few good uses from it, most notably at Sernpidal.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The ceremonial outfits for ranking members of the higher castes work like this; warriors wear black, priests wear red, intendants wear green, and shapers wear white.
  • Combat Sadomasochist: The most fanatical warriors (particularly from Domain Shai) are like this, though pain gives them religious ecstasy. Even the less fanatical Vong are so used to pain that they can take massive amounts of it without dropping. Balance Point indicates that their biology helps with this, giving them a much higher pain threshold than the average human has.
  • Covered in Scars: Ritual scarification (and tattooing) is an important aspect of Vong culture, collectively giving an overview of a particular Vong's family and history to anyone familiar with the patterns. Warriors especially go for obvious, intimidating scars, though other castes do so as well.
  • Creative Sterility: The Vong don't do innovation, whether culturally or scientifically. At least in the latter case, it's eventually revealed that being cut off from their original homeworld did a real number on their ability to shape new biots - only a handful of particularly brilliant, open-minded Shapers, such as Nen Yim, are actually capable of true invention. This is actually one of the tenets of their religion: only gods can create, and attempting to emulate the gods is hubris and heresy. The gods possess all knowledge and grant it to the Yuuzhan Vong in due time, one should never, ever, presume to attempt to steal knowledge the gods have not yet seen fit to share.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: The Vong have a boss chain, as successive waves of the invasion reveal further layers in their hierarchy to the peoples of the galaxy. It goes Prefect Da'Gara->Commander Shedao Shai->Supreme Commander Nas Choka->Warmaster Tsavong Lah->Supreme Overlord Shimrra. The last of whom is secretly controlled by Onimi.
  • Dying Race: The New Jedi Order gradually reveals the Vong to be this as it goes on. Their worldships and biotech had begun breaking down during the journey between galaxies with no good way to grow more, while their society was riven with internal strife. They likely only had a generation or two left in them if they hadn't stumbled across the GFFA, revitalizing them by giving them a common enemy. However, it's made increasingly clear that this was only a delaying measure. Reuniting with Zonama Sekot seems to have given them a new lease on life.
  • Elite Mooks: The Vong Warriors; able to hold their own against Jedi, they're some of the most impressive mooks you'll find in-or-out-of-universe. Their combination of being somewhat physically stronger and tougher than the average human, plus weapons and armor that can stand up to blaster bolts or even lightsabers (in addition to their Man of Kryptonite abilities versus Force wielders) makes them especially formidable.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: The Vong, by and large, despise cowardice and hypocrisy, mostly expressed in their utter contempt for their Peace Brigade allies. They also are far nicer to species that don't rely on mechanical technology such as droids and thus don't commit blasphemy in their eyes, leaving the Vratix of Thyferra mostly in peace because of their rather primitive lifestyle and use of biological techniques instead of technology to produce Bacta.
  • Evil Is Bigger: Vong tend to be about a head taller than humans, on average; this is especially obvious with the warriors, who tend to be quite buff in addition to their height.
  • Evil Is Visceral: Between their Organic Technology, penchant for Body Horror, and general air of wide-eyed, frothing fanaticism, the Vong live and breathe this trope.
  • Evil Luddite: Detest mechanical and electrical technology, considering it an affront to the gods. That said, they happily make use of Organic Technology that can replicate most of the functions of those things.
  • Family Honor: Domain loyalty is super important in Vong society; members of a given Domain are expected to stick together no matter what their personal feelings for each other are, and there are several instances of Vong characters going to extreme lengths to avenge a real or perceived slight against their Domain, such as Shedao Shai's vendetta against Corran.
  • Fantastic Caste System: Vong society is divided up among a number of different castes. The Supreme Overlord is a caste unto himself, and below him are the four higher castes (warrior, priest, intendant, and shaper) and below them are workers, slaves, and Shamed Ones.
  • Fantastic Honorifics: A few show up over the series. "Dread Lord" and "God-Chosen" for the Supreme Overlord, "Fearsome One" for high-ranking warriors, and "Eminence" for high-ranking priests. "Master" can also be used for one's immediate superior, regardless of their official rank.
  • Fantastic Rank System: Each caste has its own subset of ranks unique to it.
  • Fantasy Pantheon: They venerate a host of (largely unpleasant) deities called the Yun'O, the most important of whom are the Top God Yun-Yuuzhan and his twin children Yun-Yammka and Yun-Harla.
  • Feudal Future: The overall structure of Vong society is feudal, with the Supreme Overlord as a god-king at the top, followed by higher castes which are controlled by powerful aristocratic families (domains). This was apparently more pronounced before the invasion, when the domains had more power and the Supreme Overlord less, leading to significant internecine strife before the discovery of the GFFA gave them a common enemy.
  • Full-Name Basis: Yuuzhan Vong characters are almost always referred to by their full names, except for the odd scene in their own point-of-view where just the first name is used. Apparently, consistently calling someone else by only part of their name is considered extremely offensive in Vong society. Were they to see this very page and how many times they're referred to as "Vong" instead of "Yuuzhan Vong" they would be livid.
  • Gravity Master: One of the most common Vong biots is the dovin basal, which creates controlled gravitic anomalies. They're most commonly used on ships for propulsion and shielding, but sufficiently large ones can be used to move entire celestial bodies.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: The ancient Vong were originally a peaceful race until they were invaded and nearly destroyed by a race of machine creatures (implied to have been their first contact with another species). They fought back, turned their biotech into weapons, and defeated the invaders — and in the process discovered a taste for war and conquest.
  • Heel–Race Turn: Upon the defeat of Shimrra and Onimi, and the intervention of Zonama Sekot proving that their religious dogma was extremely misguided, the Vong renounce their ways.
  • The Horde: At first, they're a spacefaring version. After taking Coruscant, they turn into The Empire.
  • Hufflepuff House: The majority of the Vong species are supposed to belong to the worker caste, but they get by far the least amount of focus in the novels, in which not a single named worker ever appears.
  • Human Sacrifice: And the sacrifice of any other sentient beings they can get their claws on, including sometimes each other. The gods must feed...
  • Humanoid Aliens: Though the average Vong couldn't pass for human without a masquer, they're still pretty close. The biggest differences are that Vong skew somewhat taller, their skin tones are on a spectrum of greys rather than browns, they have talons instead of fingernails, their foreheads are prominent and sloped, their noses are completely flat, and their hair is almost always black (when they have any at all, as baldness is more common among them than it is for humans). Art sometimes gives them pointy ears and/or Klingon-esque ridges, but the novels themselves don't specify these (the text also regularly describes them as having bluish sacks under their eyes, which visual art almost never depicts).
  • Language Equals Thought: Downplayed. The Vong language doesn't have words for concepts like "peace" (the closest translates literally as "willing submission to a conqueror") which can wreak havoc in trying to communicate with "infidels" even when both parties are trying to be honest. However, they are capable of understanding such concepts even if they don't have the words to properly articulate them.
  • Lean and Mean: Though the stereotypical Vong is burlier than the average human, a not-inconsiderable number of them fit here instead, including most intendants and priests and members of Domain Shai (the extreme self-mortification, even by Vong standards, that this Domain favors may be an explanation).
  • Man of Kryptonite: Yuuzhan Vong cannot be sensed or directly affected by most Force abilities, with certain Dark Side-based abilities like Force Lightning being the exception. Several Jedi figure out how to use their environments against them, however.
  • Martyrdom Culture: The Yuuzhan Vong have a cultural fixation on death and mortality; early in the series, it's explicitly noted that in their worldview how one lives is far less important than how one dies, and though they're perfectly willing to murder and sacrifice members of other species, they'll also generally lay down their own lives in a heartbeat if they think it's what their gods and/or their superiors want.
  • Master Race: They consider themselves the chosen children of Yun-Yuuzhan who have a divine right to conquer other species, though they are (moderately) more tolerant of those who voluntarily join their cause (unless, like most of the Peace Brigade, you do it for selfish or cowardly reasons).
  • Morph Weapon: The most common Yuuzhan Vong weapon is the amphistaff, a living snake-like creature that can alter the rigidity and density of its body, allowing it to function as a whip, spear, staff, or sword depending on the current needs of the wielder. When rigid, it can even block a lightsaber blade.
  • My Master, Right or Wrong: Part of their cultural beliefs is total, unthinking, unwavering, undeviating obedience to their superiors. The concept of people doing things of their own initiative is one that they have a hard time getting their head around. It also makes for bad strategy. Troops on the ground will refuse to go against their orders for any reason, even if those orders are wrong, stupid, or no longer applicable.
  • Not Afraid to Die: As part of the aforementioned martyrdom thing. Yuuzhan Vong warriors lack a fear of death, and as Admiral Ackbar points out, this can make them a whole army of Fearless Fools; they'll fight a hopeless battle long past the point most other beings would give up or run.
  • Not Worth Killing: They regard sacrificing worthy opponents the highest honor. Conversely, total cowards are not worth wasting the gods' time with, and don't get that privilege.
  • Organic Technology: Since they find machines abhorrent, they use specially engineered lifeforms for most of their tools and weapons, and even those that aren't currently alive are typically byproducts of living things. Just don't call it biotechnology around them. They're a little sensitive.
  • Our Orcs Are Different: The vicious and bestial warrior caste evoke this archetype; the priests, shapers, and intendants, who are less savage and more cunning, fall closer to the dark elf type.
  • Outside-Context Problem: From their Man of Kryptonite abilities to their use of Organic Technology over mechanical and electrical variants, they came completely out of nowhere to the galaxy at large. Also literally, since they come from a completely different galaxy.
  • Paying Evil Unto Evil: Their genocide of the Yevethas with them annihilating the Yevetha fleet and bombarding N'Zoth until it became a molten wasteland. As terrible of an action it was, the Yevethas were an extreme self-centered and xenophobic species that viewed every other species as vermins and sought to exterminate them so no other species in the galaxy will miss them. They also are heavily implied to have conquered or slaughtered the Ssi-ruuk, another xenophobic species that sought to conquer other planets and species to drain their lifeforce to fuel their machines or use them as slaves.
  • Pointed Ears: Never described in the novels, but how they're usually depicted in art.
  • Powered Armor: Vonduun crab armor works like this; since the armor is actually alive, it adds the strength of its own muscles to that of the wearer. Though Vong warriors can wear just the shell, the live crab is preferred for this reason.
  • Proud Scholar Race: Subverted with the Shapers. Although they're the Vong's scientists, they just keep and transmit pre-existing knowledge. Creating new knowledge is heresy of the highest order.
  • Proud Warrior Race: The Warrior Caste play this completely straight.
  • Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: No rapes are depicted on page (this is Star Wars), but the Vong demonstrate this attitude indirectly. Danni specifically notes in Vector Prime that her Vong captors display absolutely no indications of wanting to molest her, and the only Vong character explicitly identified as a rapist (a minor mook in Conquest) is considered to be especially depraved even by his own people. Similarly, Onimi's antics are always greeted with disgust by whoever he's interacting with.
  • Religion of Evil: The Great Doctrine isn't a pretty religion. It's not as insidious as the Sith, but even more overtly brutal. The fact that "all life is suffering" is, more or less, its core tenet ought to tell you something.
  • Restraining Bolt: Surge coral is used for this purpose. It comes in a couple of different strengths - the weaker kind just causes pain when a taskmaster signals for it but leaves the slave functional otherwise, while the stronger is so agonizing it tends to drive the unfortunate hosts mad. Warriors prefer the latter, since they just want bodies to throw at the enemy, while shapers and intendants are more likely to use the former as they prefer slaves who retain sufficient free will to perform complex tasks.
  • Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: The Vong don't take kindly to those who join their cause purely for personal gain and tend to brutally use them up and betray them, as the Hutts (who were trying to play the Vong and the New Republic off each other) and the Peace Brigade typically learn the hard way. In contrast, they tend to respect those who oppose them from honest conviction.
  • Saved by the Awesome: Military doctrine - "All things are forgiven by victory."
  • Scary Dogmatic Aliens: They mostly partake of Type III (Aliens as Religious Fundamentalists) with a bit of Type I (Aliens as Nazis) for flavor.
  • Skull for a Head: In general, Vong facial features - with their sharp, gaunt features, grayish skin-tones, and flat noses — can look disconcertingly skull-like from a human POV. Those who've had extensive facial scarification and modification can display this even more overtly — Nom Anor in particular is typically depicted in art as having a very skull-like face.
  • Slave Mooks: They're prone of making use of these as grunts and for Zerg Rushing; they bring large hordes of Chazrach from their home galaxy with them for this purpose, and later supplement them with GFFA-born captives.
  • Snake Whip: The primary weapon of Yuuzhan Vong warriors is the amphistaff, a biologically engineered snakelike creature that can be induced to stiffen and loosen by hand gestures from its wielder. When stiff, amphistaffs can be used as quarterstaffs or hurled like poisonous, biting spears; when loose, they're wielded like whips, and will attempt to actively ensnare and entangle foes that they're directed at.
  • Space Elves: They started out as this, based on the backstory revealed in The Unifying Force. The contemporary Vong are more like a cross between Space Drow and Space Orcs, but as of the Legacy comics they're somewhat on the way to recovering their Space Elf-ness.
  • Space Nomads: The Vong have spent millennia as this, traveling the galactic void in their worldships. In addition to religious motivations, their primary reason for invading the GFFA is to conquer a new home. And they think the entire galaxy looks very temping.
  • Spikes of Villainy: A fair bit, mostly on the vonduun crab armor, though it shows up on other biots and implants as well.
  • The Theocracy: Religion is the driving force of Yuuzhan Vong society, and though the priest caste does not rule, Nom Anor explicitly points out that they're the ones holding everyone else together, while the Supreme Overlord is a religious as well as political and military leader.
  • Those Were Only Their Scouts: The Praetorite Vong, the first wave of the invasion, seem like a formidable but manageable problem, not unlike the Ssi-ruuk or Yevetha. Then it turns out they were just one small, ambitious faction that wasn't even run by the warrior caste. The invasion proper is much, much worse.
  • We Are as Mayflies: They live about three times longer than humans, on average (and Star Wars humans reach a hundred as often as not, for reference).
  • We Have Reserves: Since they have no qualms about dying themselves or sending subordinates to their deaths, it's unsurprising they rely on this tactic a fair bit. Ultimately deconstructed when they spend so many warriors' lives that they run out of reserves.
    • It sort of worked as a bluff for a while: the New Republic assumed they had reserves, because any sane military power wouldn't keep going on the offensive long after their forces were already stretched thin. While the New Republic is shocked and demoralized after the fall of Coruscant, in the next book we get their own leaders bluntly criticizing their military commander that he only achieved victory by continuing to send in more and more reserves "over a wall of our own dead" until he took the planet through disastrous attrition. The New Republic lost the war in the earlier phases because they assumed the Vong would act rationally - after realizing that they are morons at large-scale strategy and husbanding their resources, the GFFA successfully shifts tactics: the Vong are such aggressive, death-seeking, honor-bound idiots that they'll basically rush headlong into a mine field if you dare them to (which was exploited to large-scale, catastrophic effect on their space fleets at Ebaq 9).
  • You Fool!: Calling another Yuuzhan Vong a fool is a killing offense. In fact, it's not only expected but demanded that whoever says it ends up dead.
  • Zerg Rush: They tend to use their Chazrach slave-soldiers to do this at the beginning of battle, with the goal of weeding out lesser enemies so the only ones left to face the Vong themselves will be "worthy".

    The Yun'O 

The Yun'O, True Gods of the Yuuzhan Vong

According to Yuuzhan Vong mythology, in the beginning was Yun-Yuuzhan the Creator, who tore himself into pieces so as to shape the cosmos from his body. Thus was born the universe, and also the lesser gods, the greatest of whom were the twin brother and sister Yun-Yammka and Yun-Harla. Many times the gods sought to create life that would be worthy of their care, and with their last attempt they succeeded - so were born the Yuuzhan Vong. Now under the aegis of this harsh pantheon the Vong go forth to conquer the galaxy and deliver countless sacrifices for their patrons, for the gods hunger and must feed.
  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: Even compared to their worshippers, the Yun'O are weird. Sometimes they'll even work against the Vong themselves, per doctrine, for reasons only they understand.
  • Divine Date: Onimi claims at one point that Yun-Harla wanted him as her lover, but he refused her. Considering it's Onimi, take with a grain of salt.
  • Divine Incest: The sect of the Undying Flame worships Yun-Q'aah and Yun-Txiin, deities whose domain includes "love and hate and all things opposite". Their usual titles are either "The Twins" or "The Lovers".
  • Eldritch Abomination: Most of the gods give off this vibe. Yun-Yuuzhan created the entire cosmos from his own body, Yun-Yammka is decidedly Cthulhuesque, and Yun Harla is... something that conceals itself in a body made from parts of other peoples'.
  • Fantastic Honorifics: A god's name is traditionally prefixed with "Yun".
  • Fantasy Pantheon: And a rather unpleasant one at that, consisting of seven main gods: Yun-Yuuzhan, Yun-Yammka, Yun-Harla, Yun-Shuno, Yun-Ne'Shel, and Yun-Txiin and Yun-Q'aah.
  • God in Human Form: Onimi believes that the gods have taken mortal form to oppose him, giving him the chance to kill them. Specifically, he identifies Luke as Yun-Yammka, Jaina as Yun-Harla, Jacen as Yun-Shuno, and Tahiri as Yun-Ne'shel. He's probably delusional. Probably.
  • God of Evil: All the Yun'O are freaky, but Yun-Yammka is the one who's actively malevolent. Fittingly, the Vong only started worshipping him after they turned to conquest.
  • Gods Need Prayer Badly: The gods are said to require worship to sustain them, specifically in the form of sacrifice. What form the sacrifice takes varies from god to god, but considering the Vong emphasis on pain and death, it's almost invariably unpleasant.
  • Greater-Scope Villain: The gods never show up in person, but it's in their name the Vong are conquering the galaxy. Subverted; the gods (sans Yun-Yammka) were originally aspects of the benevolent Genius Loci of the original Yuuzhan'tar. The actual Big Bad, Onimi, regards them as his enemies.
  • Have You Seen My God??: Though Yun-Yuuzhan is the most powerful of the gods, he's largely absent from the affairs of mortals, which are seen as vastly beneath his notice. Only the Supreme Overlord (and a small but ambitious sect of priests) actually bother worshipping him; the Vong populace at large makes do with less powerful, but more interested, deities. The Jeedai Heretics provide an answer for what Yun-Yuuzhan is up to by identifying him with the Force.
  • Love Goddess: And love god; Yun-Txiin and Yun-Q'aah, venerated as a pair, have romance (among other dualities) in their domain. Considering what the Vong are like, they're the least-regarded deities in the pantheon.
  • Mad Scientist: Yun-Ne'shel, the Modeler, is the patron goddess of the Shapers. Yun-Harla is also said to possess great knowledge of Shaping, which she convinced Yun-Yuuzhan to teach her when he was weary from creating the universe; Yun-Ne'shel is said to be Yun-Harla's handmaiden.
  • Physical God: Defied. The gods unless you believe Onimi don't seem to have physical manifestations.
  • Polar Opposite Twins: Yun-Yammka and Yun-Harla, a warrior and trickster respectively.
  • Shrouded in Myth: By the end of the series it becomes increasingly clear that while the gods have a definite basis in reality, much of what the Vong think they know about their origins and nature has been badly distorted by the passage of time. The priest caste keeping secrets from everyone else probably didn't help either.
  • Token Good Teammate: Yun-Shuno is the only deity who actually cares about the Shamed Ones and others the Vong's system has exploited.
  • Top God: Yun-Yuuzhan the Creator and Cosmic Lord is the most powerful and progenitor of the gods.
  • Trickster God: Yun-Harla, the Cloaked Goddess, is also called the Trickster. Her priests, the deception sect, often work in intelligence or counterintelligence in tandem with the intendants.
  • War God: War is Yun-Yammka the Slayer's domain. Considering the NJO deals with the Vong while they're at war, he's probably the most emphasized of the gods, narrowly beating his sister Yun-Harla for the position.
  • You Have Failed Me: Apparently the Yuuzhan Vong are only the latest in a succession of "chosen" races, all of whom disappointed the gods in some way and were destroyed. After Shimrra dies, Nas Choka fears that the same fate has befallen the Vong themselves at last.

    Shimrra 

Supreme Overlord Shimrra Jamaane

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shimrra_jamaane_swleu_437.jpg
The mad god-king of the Yuuzhan Vong empire, Shimrra won his throne by murdering his predecessor and has ruled his people with an iron fist ever since. Mostly off-page in the early novels, in which he leaves the running of the crusade to his Dragon Tsavong Lah, he eventually arrives in person to take possession of a conquered Coruscant and emerges as a direct antagonist to the people of the galaxy. He possesses a variety of strange abilities that may be gifts from his gods, which may be the product of Yuuzhan Vong bioscience — or may point at a yet stranger secret...
  • All Your Powers Combined: The Supreme Overlord is supposed to be this to the different Yuuzhan Vong castes; he's supposed to be the greatest warrior, most pious priest, most cunning intendant, and most learned shaper. Shimrra demonstrates skill in all of these areas though some of it was actually Onimi. The warrior part was all him, though.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Overthrew Supreme Overlord Quoreal to become Supreme Overlord. He also proves himself to be an extremely dangerous warrior, able of swatting Jacen Solo aside and being a formidable adversary for Luke Skywalker, who's considered the most powerful Jedi Master of all times.
  • Authority Grants Asskicking: Got a bunch of enhancements as a result of becoming Supreme Overlord, making him the most individually formidable Vong alive.
  • Bad Boss: As depicted in the later books, he seems to spend much of his leisure time killing treacherous or disappointing underlings in a succession of creative ways.
  • Big Bad: As the ultimate ruler of the Vong, he has absolute command of the invasion and is the main antagonist of the New Jedi Order. Except not. He's just a mouthpiece for Onimi, who's really pulling the strings.
  • The Caligula: To say that Shimrra is erratic and prone to violence and seemingly inexplicable decisions is a dramatic understatement. Considering his divine mandate, though, most Vong will just suck it up and obey his orders anyway, even when they seem nonsensical.
  • Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: To Palpatine; both are power-mad evil overlords with delusions of grandeur, but are very different in terms of personality, appearance, and the nations they rule. Luke mentally contrasts them when he meets Shimrra for the first time. Of course, it's Onimi who's really running the show, and he has more in common with Palpatine than Shimrra does.
  • The Chosen One: One of his titles is "God-Chosen".
  • Dark Messiah: The prophet and guiding light of a bloodthirsty crusade dedicated to subjugating the galaxy.
  • Deadpan Snarker: One of the benefits of being Supreme Overlord is that he can lay withering sarcasm on everyone else while going over their screw-ups and get away with it. Usually just before the shouting and executions start.
  • The Dividual: Shimrra and Onimi essentially function like this because of how strong Onimi's control is; Shimrra is the body and Onimi is the mind. However, late in The Unifying Force Shimmra's original personality resurfaces to a certain degree and starts fighting back.
  • The Dragon: He uses the Warmaster - regardless of who currently holds the position - for this, but he himself is actually Onimi's.
  • Emperor Scientist: The Supreme Overlord is meant to be a peerless shaper, and Shimrra unleashes his own creations on the galaxy multiple times during the series... except that they were actually created by Nen Yim's project, and maybe some by Onimi.
  • Enfant Terrible: Apparently he was this as a youth. He murdered his own twin when they were seven years old - even by the standards of the Vong, who expect twins to eventually fight to the death, that was shocking. And that was before Onimi took him over!
  • Evil Overlord: His full title is "Supreme Overlord of the Yuuzhan Vong". And he's very, very evil.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: His voice is described as a "bone-shivering bass".
  • The Faceless: In his first few appearances; in Rebirth he's sitting in deep enough shadows that Nen Yim isn't able to get a good sense of what he looks like, and in Star by Star his villip communication with Tsavong Lah is wearing a sort of ceremonial mask or veil. His appearance is fully revealed in Destiny's Way.
  • Facial Horror: Even more than Tsavong Lah; Nom Anor notes that Shimmra has so many facial scars he barely seems to actually have a face underneath them. Yikes.
  • Galactic Conqueror: As to be expected from the ruler of a race of Proud Warrior Race Guy Scary Dogmatic Aliens. The Yuuzhan Vong conquer a solid chunk of the galaxy under his rule.
  • Genuine Human Hide: Well, genuine Yuuzhan Vong hide, but the principle is the same. His ceremonial robes were made from the flayed skin of Steng, the defeated enemy of the first Supreme Overlord, Yo'Gand.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: And they change colors to match his mood, though they're usually red with anger.
  • A God Am I: The Supreme Overlord is supposed to be godlike already, but Shimrra goes especially megalomaniacal in The Unifying Force, declaring that he has surpassed the gods and that his real war is against them. Was likely a result of Onimi bleeding over into him.
  • God-Emperor: Ultimate spiritual and temporal head of the Yuuzhan Vong; he's not on level with the "true" gods of the main pantheon, but his position as Supreme Overlord still makes him something more than merely mortal.
  • Kick The Son Of A Bitch: Shimrra publicly appoints Thrackan Sal-Solo (a Politically Incorrect Villain with a Chronic Backstabbing Disorder) head of the Peace Brigade against Thrackan's wishes, causing him to be banished from Corellia by an absentia court that also confiscates all of his possessions. When Thrackan protests, he also orders his guards to hit him in a part of his body that will cause a great deal of pain.
  • Klingon Promotion: The exact circumstances are murky, but it's a known fact that Shimrra won his throne by killing his predecessor Quoreal - and knowing what the Vong in general and Shimrra in particular are like, he probably did it personally.
  • Kneel Before Zod: Has a gravity-controlling creature called a dovin basal that he uses to increase the gravity of people who approach his throne, forcing them to kneel. Luke Skywalker was strong enough to resist the gravity and stand, much to Shimrra's amazement.
  • Large and in Charge: Huge, even by Yuuzhan Vong standards, to the point that it's speculated in his court that his size is the result of a shaping procedure and can't be natural.
  • Large Ham: At times; though sometimes surprisingly soft-spoken, he can also be quite the melodramatic fellow when the mood takes him.
  • Laser Blade: He took Anakin Solo's lightsaber as a trophy, deciding he would make an exception to his culture's anti-mechanical technology laws to have such an awesome weapon.
  • Last Villain Stand: His dramatic final duel against Luke plays out like this at the climax of The Unifying Force or at least, that's what Onimi wanted everyone to think; he was actually sacrificing Shimrra to buy himself time to escape.
  • Light Is Not Good: In contrast with the shadowy, black-clad Sith, Shimrra is primarily associated with a rainbow motif, most obviously in his eyes.
  • Lightning Bruiser: Though one might expect someone of Shimrra's sheer size to be a lumbering brute, during his duel with Luke this proves decidedly not to be the case, as he shows himself to be quick and agile enough to keep up with the Jedi Master. Jacen is reminded of Vergere's aphorism that the true master of defense is the one who is never in the place that is attacked, and thinks that Shimrra clearly learned the same lesson.
  • Living Mood Ring: At some point he has his eyes replaced with mqaaq'it implants, which change colors depending on his mood.
  • Meaningful Name: He has shimmering rainbow-colored eyes, and is named Shimrra
  • Mood-Swinger: His underlings prefer it when he's just screaming his head off at them. If Shimra's being calm, they know that means he's more likely to randomly explode later.
  • Off with His Head!: Decapitated by Luke with his own lightsaber and that of Anakin Solo.
  • Orcus on His Throne: Discussed. Shimrra rarely takes a direct hand in things, preferring to hang around away from the action on his worldship or, later on, his Citadel on Yuuzhan'tar. However, it's noted that part of the reason for this is that the Supreme Overlord is considered the weapon of last resort - the Vong don't want to risk their god-king's life if they don't have to, but if they do have to he's one of the most dangerous tools in their arsenal.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: He calls out Tsavong Lah in Destiny's Way for how his overly aggressive tactics have cost too many of their warriors' lives and they need to be conserved in the future for purely strategic reasons.
  • Puppet King: Shortly after he took the throne, Onimi took control of his mind.
  • The Paranoiac: As he becomes increasingly unhinged he turns against everyone, to the point of murdering his own heirs and court seers in a fit of spite and tries to destroy Yuuzhan'tar rather than let his enemies have it.
  • Rage Against the Heavens: In The Unifying Force he decides the gods have betrayed him and goes so far as to actively declare war on them. As Shimrra's original personality was resurfacing at this point, it's unclear how much of this was him and how much was Onimi.
  • Sanity Slippage: Gradually loses his mind due to Onimi's influence, to the point where none of his followers want to go along with him anymore, and he declares war against the gods rather than against the Galactic Alliance, and tries to kill Zonama Sekot out of fear.
  • Suddenly Shouting: Shimrra is prone to spending most of a conversation speaking in a quiet, subdued tone and then launching into a frothing tirade in the blink of an eye when he hears something he doesn't like.
  • Transhuman: Well, trans-Yuuzhan Vong. His body has been so heavily modified he's barely recognizable as having started out as Vong, and is powerful enough to fight fairly evenly with the galaxy's greatest living Jedi Master. Harrar even explicitly warns that Shimrra can no longer be considered an ordinary Yuuzhan Vong.
  • The Usurper: He gained his throne by seizing power from (and murdering) his predecessor. Most of the Vong don't see much problem with this, but there are a few - especially the faction that supported said predecessor - who are less than enthused by the situation.
  • What Beautiful Eyes!: His eyes are a pretty rainbow color due to his Mqaaq'it implants, in sharp contrast to the rest of his face.
  • Villainous Breakdown: The Unifying Force is essentially one long, spectacular meltdown for him. As it turns out, he'd started to fight back against Onimi's control, with the result that both of them were struggling for control of his body. Consequently, his actions ended up a little bit... odd.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He's fond of executing subordinates he no longer has a need for or who annoy him in some way. He himself is on the receiving end from Onimi, who leaves him to fight and die alone to cover the true Supreme Overlord's escape.

Warrior Caste

    Tsavong Lah 

Warmaster Tsavong Lah

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tsavong_lah_swleu_3318.jpg

Warmaster of the Yuuzhan Vong, Tsavong Lah is the tactical and fanatical mastermind behind the invasion of the galaxy. He becomes obsessed with the Jedi during the war, and comes to view the Solo twins as his personal adversaries.


  • Arch-Enemy: Becomes this to the twins, who he wants to sacrifice to Yun-Yammka and Yun-Harla, after Jacen defeated and humiliated him, taking his foot in the process.
  • Artificial Limbs: Over the course of the series, he has both a foot and an arm replaced by implants.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: As to be expected of a warrior of his rank; the warrior caste wouldn't be liable to follow someone who couldn't hold his own in a fight.
  • Bad Boss: By human standards, he's a horror to work under, though by Vong standards, he's almost cuddly, even on occasion sparing the lives of subordinates he could have killed so long as they're still assets to the cause.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: In a delayed and Fridge Horror-ish sort of way. Throughout much of the series, one of his goals is to force Jacen and Jaina to fight to the death as part of a ritually mandated twin sacrifice. It doesn't happen in the NJO and Lah doesn't live to see it, but exactly that duel happens in Legacy of the Force.
  • Barbarian Longhair: Art usually depicts him with long, braided hair, and he's a powerful warrior who is certainly considered barbaric by the inhabitants of the Galaxy Far Far Away.
  • Berserk Button: In addition to the usual Vong buttons regarding machines, from the end of Balance Point on any mention of Jacen is liable to set him off.
  • Blue Blood: Domain Lah is a very large and powerful family, with high-ranking members showing up many times throughout the series; Tsavong himself, as the Domain's highest ranking member, is therefore a very powerful Vong aristocrat. Also literal, as like most Vong, his blood is a dark blue-black.
  • Body Horror: His uniform is a suit of armor scales that's basically been grafted to his skin. Gets worse from Star by Star to Enemy Lines, when he gets a new implant that goes wrong (thanks to deliberate sabotage) and would have forced him to become a Shamed One if he hadn't fixed the problem in time.
  • The Chessmaster: Sometimes. Though always a brutal fanatic, Lah can be very competent at certain points of the series, usually when he's surrounded by competent and level-headed advisors and when not blinded by his hatred for Jedi and the Solo twins, but when he's alone in command with no one to curb his flaws and when the Solos are around he quickly lets his hot-bloodness and hatred take control and make disastrous decisions.
  • Climax Boss: For the series as a whole; his death in Destiny's Way, about three-quarters of the way through, is a major turning point of the war.
  • Combat Sadomasochist: It's a requirement for Yuuzhan Vong warriors, particularly devout ones, which Tsavong is.
  • The Comically Serious: Has his moments, especially in his exchange with Han in Rebirth. Apparently Han's snark doesn't translate well.
  • Do Not Adjust Your Set: He makes a broadcast via villip to the entire galaxy at the end of Balance Point in which he promises to hold off on further invasion if the Jedi are handed over to him.
  • The Dragon: As Warmaster, this is more-or-less his job description; he's both the head of the warrior caste and the chief protector and enforcer of the Supreme Overlord. However he functions as de facto Big Bad between his introduction in the flesh (Balance Point) and Shimrra's arrival on Coruscant (Destiny's Way), during which time Shimrra has given him command of the overall invasion to run more-or-less as he sees fit.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Genuinely loves and admires his father, Czulkang Lah.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: He's genuinely shocked in Balance Point when he learns of Han and Leia's marital troubles; after all, among the Vong, family loyalty and solidarity is all but unbreakable.
  • Evil Sounds Raspy: His voice has a dry, whispery quality even when he's speaking loudly as a result of the ceremonial gashes in his lips.
  • Evil Versus Evil: He spends most of the Enemy Lines duology locked in a power struggle with a conspiracy of priests and shapers who are trying to control him by sabotaging his implants.
  • The Face: From his galaxy-wide broadcast in Balance Point up through his death, Lah is the most recognizable Yuuzhan Vong in the galaxy and whenever Republic-aligned characters are talking about the Vong leadership, he's usually the one to get namedropped. In contrast, it's not until Destiny's Way that the people of the galaxy seem to have more than a vague idea of who Shimrra even is.
  • Facial Horror: All Vong go for ritual scarification, and warriors especially to make themselves look more intimidating, but he takes it to the next level, with his whole face more or less carved so that he resembles his patron god.
  • Fatal Flaw: His hatred of Jacen Solo causes him to waste resources hunting the Jedi, and ultimately leads to him getting his army blown up on Ebaq 9. This is an extension of his deeper problem - as canny as he can be, his hot-bloodedness can prevent him from seeing the big picture.
  • Four-Star Badass: As the highest-ranking officer of the Vong warrior caste, this is to be expected.
  • Frontline General: Generally averted, as Lah usually commands from his throne aboard whatever ship is currently serving as his flagship, but he is a Proud Warrior Race Guy at heart and therefore is perfectly willing to take the field himself should he find it necessary.
  • Genius Bruiser: As noted under The Chessmaster above, while he was often presented as a brute, under several writers he was a very smart brute.
  • Handicapped Badass: After losing his foot fighting Jacen, he has an extinct super-predator called a vua'sa cloned specifically so he can fight and kill it to prove that his injury is not going to slow him down. And then he takes one of its feet for the shapers to turn into a prosthetic to replace the one he lost.
  • The Heavy: For most of the middle part of the series (Balance Point through Destiny's Way), though he often splits the role with his sometimes-subordinate, sometimes-ally Nom Anor (as Lah is the overall commander and driving force of the military side of the invasion, while Anor is a more recurring and personal foe of the protagonists).
  • Hot-Blooded: Lah is an extremely passionate man, dedicated to his species, his gods, and the art of combat itself with equal fervor. Sometimes he makes it work for him. Other times, as in his final battle in Destiny's Way, it leads him astray.
  • Impromptu Tracheotomy: In Destiny's War, as a result of catching a fatal case of "Jaina's lightsaber to the neck".
  • It's Personal: With Jacen after he defeats him in battle and severs his foot. Lah later extends this to Jaina as well after he learns they're twins. With Jacen, it's mostly personal on Lah's end; with Jaina, the enmity is less intense but more evenly distributed between them.
  • It's Personal with the Dragon: For the Solos it is, anyway. While none of the heroes meet Shimrra or Onimi face-to-face until the last book, Lah is a very continuous - and very hated - presence in everyone's lives for much of the war (and he's holding the leash of the other most personal enemy, Nom Anor, for much of that time).
  • Knight Templar: Tsavong Lah will bring the worship of the gods to the entire galaxy, no matter how many people (infidels or Vong) he has to kill to do it.
  • Large and in Charge: While not as huge as Shimrra, he's still bigger than most Vong. Apparently the shaping he underwent after becoming warmaster caused him to grow somewhat taller, among other things.
  • Large Ham: Lah is usually blunt and terse, but when given the opportunity to let loose, he can really let loose.
  • The Leader: His title "warmaster" makes him the highest ranking member of the warrior caste. He also serves as the de facto ruler of the Yuuzhan Vong in the galaxy until Shimrra arrives in person to take up the role.
  • The Man Behind the Man: First appears toward the end of Dark Tide: Ruin as Deign Lian's backer.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: His obsession and vendetta against Jedi, and his We Have Reserves mentality, would make things far more difficult for his people as it allowed the New Republic to score several crucial victories that would allow it and its successor the Galactic Alliance to regain some much needed ground, and deplete his people's reserves. His obsession with Jedi would also help the Jeedai Heresy to grow within the Yuuzhan Vongs' Shamed Ones, who would play a key role into defeating the Vongs at the end of the saga.
  • Pet the Dog: His relationship with his father. It's clear that there's friction there, but Lah tremendously respects the old man and is devastated when he dies.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Though like most Vong he finds technology repulsive, he's willing to handle and study it if he thinks it will give him an advantage over his enemies, and extends this to studying infidel culture more generally after taking Vergere as an advisor.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Nas Choka's blue. He's the fanatical, Hot-Blooded warmaster.
  • Red Right Hand: Though Lah has tons of implants and modifications, fitting his rank, he's most recognizable by his radank-claw arm and vua'sa foot.
  • Religious Bruiser: Lah isn't as obsessively fanatical as Shedao Shai, but the man takes his religion very seriously, to the point that his best friend is a priest. And as a powerful Yuuzhan Vong warrior, he's got the "bruiser" part down pat.
  • Sarcasm-Blind: He doesn't understand sarcasm, taking Han Solo's sarcastic surrendering of his son Jacen at face value despite it being obvious to most that Han would never do that.
  • The Strategist: He's not as good at this as his subordinate Nas Choka, but when his aggression isn't getting the better of him he's got some solid strategic chops. In general, it's noted that Lah is better at winning battles than he is at winning wars - he's very good at fast, aggressive tactics that quickly overwhelm the enemy, but not so hot at long-term thinking, as aforesaid tactics end up taking a lot more territory than he can reasonably hold and getting a lot more of his warriors killed than is strictly sustainable.
  • Taking You with Me: Tries to do this with Jacen and the Jedi. When that fails thanks to Vergere's Heroic Sacrifice, he settles on trying to kill Jaina. He perishes.
  • Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Any time he's forced to work with Nom Anor. He despises Anor's selfishness and lack of piety, but he also respects his knowledge of the galaxy and grudgingly has to rely on him.
  • Underestimating Badassery: Badly underestimates Jacen in Balance Point, leading to him suffering a defeat and kicking off their running enmity.
  • Villainous Breakdown: His sanity in general starts to deteriorate after his father's death, and he becomes increasingly unhinged over the course of Destiny's Way, particularly after he realizes he got played and has walked into a trap.
  • Villainous Friendship: With the priest Harrar.
  • Villain Protagonist: In the Enemy Lines novels he's the protagonist of his own subplot involving intrigue among the Vong ranks and his own decaying implanted arm and never even faces the heroes directly.
  • We Have Reserves: Standard Yuuzhan Vong combat doctrine. Except that after three years of war, he ends up running out of reserves, and is chewed out by Supreme Overlord Shimrra for it.
  • Worthy Opponent: Even Borsk Fey'lya is forced to grudgingly respect the way he runs the campaign for Coruscant.

    Nas Choka 

Warmaster Nas Choka

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/naschoka.jpg

  • Beard of Evil: Though most Vong men don't have facial hair, Choka has a thin, wispy beard. Subverted in that he's one of the least evil of the major Vong leaders.
  • Better to Die than Be Killed / Face Death with Dignity: How he hopes to go out at the peace conference. Little does he realize that the Galactic Alliance and Jedi are not planning on executing anyone.
  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: He is genuinely shocked by the leniency of the Jedi, nor understand Luke's statement about the Jedi not being warriors but guardians of peace.
  • Combat Pragmatist: Compared to his predecessor, he was less religiously fanatically and recognized that the vendetta against the Jedi, unwillingness to retreat, and throwing as many troops as necessary to win a battle at all cost were wasting valuable resources. He also recognized that Tsavong Lah's other strategies were good only short term and required changing to win the war. He was more caution and at times wasted resources on attacks only when ordered too.
  • Dragon Ascendant: Of sorts. He's Tsavong's second-in-command, and takes over as The Dragon after he's killed. Then played straight, when he becomes the most powerful Vong leader after the demise of Shimrra.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: Once he sees Shimrra's ship destroyed and realizes just how outnumbered and outclassed the Yuuzhan Vong are at the end of the war, he decides to surrender.
  • The Napoleon: He breaks the trend for Vong leaders by being short, rather than tall and imposing (though admittedly, even a short Vong would still be a fairly tall human).
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Goes with the territory of being a Vong warrior; he generally comes off as a true believer in the warrior caste ideals without being blinded by it.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Calls of the vendetta against the Jedi because it wastes resources. He's also far wiser than Tsavong Lah and most Vuuzhan Vongs about preserving the lives of his troops, and avoid unnecessary bloodshed.
  • Put on a Bus: He vanishes for a while in the middle of the series after Tsavong Lah is introduced directly, then returns after Lah is killed (apparently he was off subjugating the Hutts). Presumably, the creative team felt having them both around at the same time would be redundant.
  • Rank Up: Introduced as a Supreme Commander, he gets promoted to Warmaster after Tsavong Lah's death.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Tsavong Lah's red. He's the calm, level-headed, calculating warmaster.
  • The Strategist: He's generally one of the more level-headed and pragmatic Vong commanders, which makes him especially dangerous once they lack the numbers for the brutal wave attacks they'd favored previously.
  • Superior Successor: Is viewed as this compared to Tsavong Lah, as he's far more cunning and cautious than his predecessor.
  • You Are in Command Now: Becomes the Warmaster and de facto Supreme Overlord following the deaths of Onimi, Shimrra, and Lah.
  • Undying Loyalty: To Shimmra. Nas Choka has often his doubts about Shimrra's decisions but he remains loyal to him and keeps viewing his Supreme Overlord under a positive light, it takes the confirmation of Shimrra's death for him to capitulate.

    Czulkang Lah 

Supreme Commander Czulkang Lah


  • 24-Hour Armor: Is always described as wearing a variant of Vonduun crab armor, even in settings like a classroom or command center. In his advanced age, the armor functions as something of a prosthesis, as he notes that without it he can barely move.
  • Affably Evil: He tends to be calm, level headed, and willing to engage in dry banter, while also being a ruthless battlefield commander.
  • Arc Villain: For half of the Enemy Lines duology, splitting it with Lord Nyax. Czulkang is the antagonist of the Borleias plot, while Nyax is the antagonist of the Coruscant plot.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Old age has left him with a rather acerbic wit, coupled with no small amount of disappointment in everyone around him.
  • Drill Sergeant Nasty: As a tactics teacher, he would use his amphistaff to take a "pit" out of anyone who screwed up in his class. Having several was to be expected and could be considered a badge of honor and an indication that the warrior had survived his teachings and met his expectations. Those who got too many would be looked down upon as incompetent.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Admiral Ackbar: former commander of the fleet who got forcibly retired? Check. Inventor of many of the tactics used by the fleet? Check. Brought out of retirement to fight in a war in which your very way of life is on the line? Check. He's also compared directly to Garm bel Iblis.
  • Face Death with Dignity: When he realizes he's doomed, he calmly gives a final speech to his son and then silently accepts the inevitable.
  • Know When to Fold 'Em: Unlike most Yuuzhan Vong commanders, he knows the value of retreat.
  • Old Soldier: Czulkang is nearly at the end of his natural lifespan. The mere fact that he can make that claim as a member of the warrior class of a fanatical race of masochistic death-worshippers should tell you exactly how good he is.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: He bears no particular ill-will towards the inhabitants of the galaxy and indeed opposed the invasion back when he was warmaster. But, when duty (and his son) calls...
  • Retired Badass: He is the rarest thing among the Yuuzhan Vong: a warrior so good they reached old age.
  • The Strategist: He's famed for his strategic mind; his son pulls him out of retirement for this very reason.
  • Surrounded by Idiots: Clearly feels this way about his bridge crew during the Borleias campaign, to the point of directly comparing his Number Two to "an ooglith masque with nothing inside" due to how little thinking he seems to be doing.
  • Worthy Opponent: Acknowledges the defenders of Borleias as this just before he dies.

    Malik Carr 

Supreme Commander Malik Carr


  • Alas, Poor Villain: As he succumbs to a bioweapon, Carr admits that he now pities his enemies rather than hating them and gives Han an ironic salute.
  • Wardens Are Evil: Carr doesn't mind torturing and starving POW's under his care.

    Khalee Lah 

Commander Khalee Lah

The son of Warmaster Tsavong Lah, Khalee Lah was a fanatical warrior, but had little sense of political savvy. He was assigned to capture Jaina Solo for the Twin Jedi Sacrifice.


  • Arc Villain: In Dark Journey.
  • The Brute: Khalee is the sort of warrior who thinks every problem can be solved with enough force.
  • Driven to Suicide: After Jaina completely outsmarts and embarrasses him.
  • Dumb Muscle: He doesn't have his father's brains, a fact that greatly disappoints Harrar.
  • The Fundamentalist: Heavily devoted to the Yuuzhan Vong gods, he refuses to consider the possibility of failure of any kind since the gods are on his side.
  • Horns of Villainy: He has a horn on his forehead as a result of taking a rare and difficult implant.
  • Unknown Rival: To Jaina Solo, to a degree. She knew that her tactics were screwing with the Yuuzhan Vong warriors, but not that they were swearing blood vengeance against her and completely messing with Khalee Lah's world view.

    Shedao Shai 

Commander Shedao Shai

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shedaoshai.jpg

  • Alliterative Name: Shedao Shai.
  • Arch-Enemy: To Corran Horn. Corran killed two of his family; he in turn killed Corran's best friend. They hate each other's guts.
  • Arc Villain: Of the Dark Tide duology.
  • Character Tic: Shedao has a weird fixation on his armor's mask and who he conceals or reveals his face to. No other Vong demonstrates this, so it's unclear if it's a personal quirk, a Domain Shai thing, or just Early-Installment Weirdness.
  • Combat Sadomasochist: Big time. It's apparently a Shai thing; they take the usual Vong acceptance and reverence of pain to extremes. It's explicitly noted that non-Shai Vong find the way the Shai don't just endure pain for religious reasons but actively seem to seek it out and enjoy it for its own sake to be excessive and unseemly.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: As the commander of the second wave of the invasion and main villain of the "Dark Tide" arc, he's the number two in the "Vong bosses" chain, following Da'Gara and preceding Nas Choka. He dies just one book after he's introduced.
  • Family Honor: The honor and reputation of Domain Shai is super important to him; he initially vows vengeance on Corran for his killing of two Shai warriors (less for the killing itself — dying in the line of duty is, after all, a high honor for the Yuuzhan Vong — than for the fact that he did so in a dishonorable way that defiled the bodies) and then later intensifies it when Corran is complicit in the desecration of his grandfather's remains.
  • Four-Star Badass: Whatever else he was, the guy was no coward, taking the field himself on several occasions.
  • Friendly Enemy: Engages in earnest philosophical discussion with Elegos A'kla, who foolishly tries to overcome the Yuuzhan Vong invasion with diplomacy, and seems to genuinely respect the Caamasi's conviction even in the face of being tortured to death. Later he presents Elegos' skeleton to Corran, gilded and bedecked with jewels, which is a gesture of great honor among his people.
  • The Fundamentalist: Yes, you read that right. Even the other Vong find his excessive devotion rather creepy.
  • Ignored Epiphany: He actually has a moment's hesitation during the attack on Ithor where he starts to think maybe, maybe the Vong way isn't actually correct and maybe the priests have got it all wrong and there might be a different way of doing things... then he decides "nah" and gets right back to work.
  • It's Personal: Corran killed two of his kin in Dark Tide: Onslaught. Shedao is even more incensed that he just left their bodies behind, rather than giving them proper respect.
  • Kick the Dog: Played with via Blue-and-Orange Morality. From Corran's perspective, his murder of the pacifist Elegos is an act of pointless cruelty that earns Shai Corran's undying enmity. From Shai's perspective, in killing Elegos with his own hands and then embalming him with full honors as he would a fallen Yuuzhan Vong warrior, he was performing an act of great Villain Respect.
  • Kick The Son Of A Bitch: He constantly heaps abuse on his Bastard Understudy, Deign Lian, who usually has it coming.
  • Knight Templar: Again, he's considered a fanatic even by Vong standards.
  • Lean and Mean: Most Vong are bulkier than humans, but members of Domain Shai are consistently described as slender, Shedao being no exception.
  • Mean Boss: Partly because, again, he's a fundamentalist, but even aside from beating the crap out of Lian, he kills several troops for not doing well enough.
  • Never My Fault: Tells Corran that it's his fault Shedao murdered Elegos just to make a message. Corran disagrees.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Very much so; the man takes a tremendous amount of pride in his martial heritage and clearly thinks the other castes ought to step aside and just let the warriors handle everything.
  • Warrior Poet: For a vicious fanatic, he can be surprisingly thoughtful and philosophical when the mood takes him. Unfortunately, as Elegos found out the hard way, when push comes to shove the warrior in him trumps the poet.

    Chine-Kal 

Commander Chine-Kal


  • Killed Mid-Sentence: Chine-kal dies in the middle of contacting his superiors to report that his ship is coming apart due to the death of his ship's Yammosk coordinator.

    Tsalok 

Commander Tsalok

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tsalok.jpg

The leader of the Vong forces who invade Rychel.


  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He cannot for the life of him understand why Finn didn't kill him when he had him at his mercy, since the idea of sparing a wounded or trapped foe is profoundly alien to him.
  • Forbidden Love: He had some from of relationship with the Shaper Nagme and they still harbor feelings for each other, but are prohibited from acting on them because inter-caste relationships are forbidden in Vong culture.
  • Ignored Epiphany: In Issue 3, during the battle for Rychel, Finn spares the life of the Vong warrior Tsalok when he has him at his mercy. Tsalok is left very confused by this, since he cannot understand why anybody would show mercy to a defeated foe, and the text builds this up to make it seem like he is about to reach some internal revelation... but he promptly goes back to slaughtering helpless captives soon afterwards.
    Tsalok has never heard of mercy, let alone employed it — he is not about to start now.

    Deign Lian 

Deign Lian

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deignlian.jpg
  • Bastard Understudy: He's Shedao Shai's second-in-command and protégé. Neither of them, to put it mildly, is happy with the arrangement.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: For all his grand ambitions, he ends up dying anticlimactically a mere few pages after his master when the New Republic and Imperial Remnant forces shoot down Legacy of Torment with him on board.
  • Dragon Ascendant: Takes over as commander of the invasion's second wave after Shedao Shai dies. Unfortunately for Deign, he doesn't live to enjoy his new position very long.
  • Impoverished Patrician: Or the Vong equivalent, anyway. Domain Lian was once a powerful and glorious warrior caste family, but they got sloppy and lazy and lost most of their prestige several generations ago. Officially, Deign was sent to be Shedao Shai's Bastard Understudy to straighten him out; unofficially, he sees betraying Shai to Tsavong Lah to be the path to the high rank he believes his bloodline entitles him to.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: He breaks Shedao's word for the duel of Ithor, and poisons the planet. Mere minutes after he does, Pallaeon and the New Republic fleet blast his ass out of the sky.
  • The Paranoiac: Becomes convinced Shedao saw the trap set on Ithor coming, and planned going down to the planet just to humiliate him (the reader sees that, nope, he fell for the trap, plain and simple).
  • Smug Snake: Deign thinks he's an evil mastermind playing Shedao Shai and Tsavong Lah off each other to advance his own ambitions. His actual track record indicates he's not that bright, getting by mostly by being in the right place at the right time.
  • The Starscream: To Shedao Shai. His every action is trying to plot against him, and get the position he feels he deserves.

    Yomin Carr 

Yomin Carr

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yomin_carr.jpg
  • Ax-Crazy: Even by typical Yuuzhan Vong standards. Several times, he nearly sabotages his own mission because he just can't hold his warrior instincts in check any longer and just needs to kill something.
  • Mr. Fixit: Though he hates working with machines (like all Yuuzhan Vong). Yomin Carr takes some pride in the technical skills he's acquired. Technically inverted, as he uses these skills to sabotage ExGal 4's attempts to alert anyone about the opening salvo of the invasion.
  • Strange-Syntax Speaker: Occasionally mangles his word order in Basic, due to not being able to use Translator Microbes all the time.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: The first Yuuzhan Vong fought in personal combat by a fully-equipped Jedi, showing that their armor and weapons are resistant to lightsaber strikes and pretty much blaster-proof. Implied to be representative of the average Yuuzhan Vong warrior, giving a taste for how bad things are about to get for the galaxy at large.
  • Worf Had the Flu: Inverted. He does so well against Mara Jade Skywalker in part because the coomb spores Nom Anor infected her with are slowly killing her, requiring her to spend part of her Force ability constantly keeping them at bay.

    Hul Rupaang 
  • Cool Big Bro: Hul treats his brother kindly (at least by Yuuzhan Vong standards) after he becomes a Shamed One and attempts to help him regain his honor and status.
  • "Rashomon"-Style: Some Jeedai heretics claim that he died fighting alongside his brother, while others say that Hul reluctantly killed Vua for helping the Jedi and was killed in turn by rioting Shamed Ones. Vua stunned Hul at the beginning of his last fight, making both scenarios unlikely (although not impossible, as Hul may have recovered), and Hul's ultimate fate and loyalties are unclear.

    Zhat Lah 
  • A Father to His Men: He withdraws his remaining ships from the doomed Battle of Fondor to keep his men from being killed and insists that they bear no responsibility for his decision.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Zhat is proud of his relative Tsavong Lah's conquests and views retreating to save the lives of his men as Dirty Business. He's fully prepared to volunteer for a Suicide Mission or let himself be executed as penance, and is unsettled when he is congratulated for his innovative thinking instead.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Zhat is given command of a fleet picketing Coruscant, but never appears in the final book when the planet is liberated.

    Charat Kraal 
  • Undying Loyalty: Charat deeply respects Czulkang Lah, calling him by his former rank of Warmaster. He states that even committing suicide at Czulkang's order would be an honor (although it doesn't come to that), as it would allow him to carry out one of his hero's orders even in death.
  • Worthy Opponent: He doesn't underestimate the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant before facing them (and respectfully mentions the stories of the Death Star), a sentiment that grows after he survives a few battles.

    Denua Ku 
  • Bond One-Liner: Denua kills a refugee whose attempt at Playing Possum fails because his body isn't bloated, and then sneers "Now he will bloat."
  • Made of Iron: While dying from a punctured lung and other wounds, he still pursues Viqi Shesh to thwart her escape attempt and get revenge for her Evil Gloating that she'll lie about how bravely he died.
  • Not So Stoic: Ku is a grim, no-nonsense warrior, but he cracks a brief smile after Dirty Coward Viqi Shesh jokingly asks if he needs her to hold the arms of a Dark Jedi so Ku can strike him down.

Shaper Caste

    Nen Yim 

Master Shaper Nen Yim

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nen_yim_swleu_9800.jpg

  • Anti-Villain: She's intelligent, brave, creative, self-sacrificing- so it's really a pity she got born into a culture that considers experimenting on sentient beings without their consent to be a standard aspect of laboratory science.
  • Heel–Face Turn: She was wavering on the edge for a while, but learning the true history of her species pushed her over for good.
  • For Science!: Her motivation in a nutshell, coupled with My Species Right Or Wrong.
  • Mad Scientist: For a given value of "mad", anyway. "Amoral Scientist" might be better.
  • My Species Doth Protest Too Much: She averts the usual Vong fanaticism by being a skeptic and agnostic- she's open to the possibility of the gods and won't go so far as to deny them outright, but isn't exactly a devout worshipper either.
  • Odd Friendship: With Tahiri in The Final Prophecy.
  • Offstage Villainy: Though she did a fair bit of R&D for an evil empire off-page, she's really only cast as a villain herself in her first appearance, and that was as a sidekick to a much nastier character. Most of the time she's either the protagonist of her own subplots, helping Tsavong Lah fight other villains, a cameo, or in an Enemy Mine.
  • Only Sane Man: She's probably the only Shaper in the entire series who is both sane and competent, a fact that by the end of the series she's aware of and seemingly resigned to.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: Why does she make inventions for Shimrra? It's her job, and she takes being a shaper very seriously. She has no particular loyalty to the Vong crusade otherwise.
  • Redemption Equals Death: Killed off by Nom Anor shortly after her Heel–Face Turn.
  • Teen Genius: Nen Yim is somewhere in her late teens/early twenties (or at least the Vong equivalent) and as far and away the most brilliant Shaper in the whole series. Of course, a lot of that comes from her being one of the few willing to practice a certain heresy that the "infidels" like to call the scientific method.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: She will serve her people to the fullest extent of her abilities. If infidels have to get dissected or otherwise painfully experimented on along the way? So be it.

    Mezhan Kwaad 

Master Shaper Mezhan Kwaad

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mezhankwaad_eov1.jpg

    Quelah Kwaad 

Master Shaper Qelah Kwaad


  • All There in the Manual: She's a Kwaad, but her exact relationship to other members of that Domain isn't noted in the books themselves. Supplementary materials indicate she is the younger sister of Mezhan Kwaad.
  • Driven by Envy: She's envious of Nen Yim's position, considering herself more talented, and thinks she should be in charge of the Shaper heretics herself. After Nen defects, she gets her wish.
  • Mad Scientist: As to be expected from a ranking Shaper; she was the one who created the Slayers, though Shimrra took credit for it.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Takes advantage of Nen Yim's defection to cast doubt on Ashi Yim, getting her executed and allowing Qelah Kwaad to get promoted to Master Shaper.
  • Villainous Lineage: She's an ambitious, ruthless, amoral Mad Scientist, just like big sister Mezhan.
  • Young and in Charge: She's noted to be even younger than Nen Yim, which probably puts her at the Vong equivalent of mid-to-late-teens, but she still ends up in charge of first the heretical project and then the entire Shaper caste after Shimrra tires of everyone else.

    Nagme 

Master Shaper Nagme


  • Forbidden Love: She had some from of relationship with the Warrior Tsalok and they still harbor feelings for each other, but are prohibited from acting on them because inter-caste relationships are forbidden in Vong culture.

Intendant Caste

    Nom Anor 
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/nom_anor_swleu_2991.jpg
"I want many things, and in time I intend to get all of them."

Master spy, infiltrator, saboteur, agitator, and schemer, Nom Anor was the most successful and ambitious advance agent sent to the galaxy to prepare for the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Widely disliked but highly valued in the Yuuzhan Vong hierarchy, Nom Anor cares nothing for anyone or anything aside from himself, and does not even believe in the Yuuzhan Vong's gods.

Nom Anor actually predates the New Jedi Order series, having appeared as the behind-the-scenes villain of the New Republic era comic series Crimson Empire. His true nature was not revealed at the time (though he was intended to hint at a future invasion storyline), and when Del Rey began the NJO he was revealed as the first advance spy of the Yuuzhan Vong.


  • Agent Provocateur: His primary job is "weakening the hinges of the enemy's fort", a Vong term that essentially translates to spying on the enemy and sowing dissension among them so they'll be softened up for the kill. He's very good at it.
  • Almighty Janitor: His rank is "executor", which puts him near the bottom rung of the intendant caste, but his knowledge of the galaxy is so extensive he's able to nonetheless parley it into advisory roles to some of the most powerful people in the Yuuzhan Vong empire. It's implied the real reason his rank is so low is the simple fact that his superiors, particularly Drathul, just plain don't like him.
  • Ambition Is Evil: Anor dreams big, and he's perfectly willing to use brutal and underhanded means to make those dreams come true. This is played interestingly in the context of Vong society, where personal ambition is perfectly acceptable - and even in some cases laudable - so long as the collective cause of the Yuuzhan Vong and their gods still gets put first. Purely selfish ambition, such as Anor demonstrates? That, on the other hand, is contemptible.
  • Bad Boss: Anor doesn't usually go out of his way to treat his subordinates badly, but, well, if it's his life or yours, he's going to pick his every time. Downplayed as the Prophet; as hard as he uses his followers, it's explicitly noted he's still giving them a better deal than they'd get from Shimrra.
  • Bald of Evil: How most official artwork depicts him. The text itself never specifies.
  • Characterization Marches On: The Nom Anor presented in Vector Prime is a high-ranking (able to speak to a prefect as an equal), seemingly very orthodox Yuuzhan Vong. Neither of these things are true of the Anor who appears in later books.
  • The Chessmaster: In Crimson Empire, which takes place around 10 years before New Jedi Order. By helping Xandel Carivus, a weak-minded fool, take over the remains of the Empire, Nom Anor basically destroys the Empire from within, leading to its fragmented state in the later New Republic stories.
  • Chronic Back Stabbing Disorder: Anor is loyal only to his own ambitions; he washes his hands of the Preatorite Vong as soon as they go down and proceeds to backstab pretty much everyone he's ever worked with on his way to the top. In the end this catches up to him, as he realizes in his last moments that no faction in the galaxy - including his own people - will ever accept him again after all he's done.
  • Dark Messiah: One of his favorite kinds of persona. He's introduced using it as the leader of the Red Knights on Rhommammool, and in the later books he refines it among his own people as "Yu'Shaa the Prophet".
  • Deadpan Snarker: Anor has a wry, acerbic wit that he tends to trot out whenever he needs to get under his enemies' skin, most obviously at the climax of The Final Prophecy.
  • Depending on the Writer: His ration of competence to ego can fluctuate visibly from writer to writer.
  • Dirty Coward: Nom always puts his own survival first. Always. The other Vong hold him in contempt for this, but, well, they need his knowledge of the galaxy too much to actually get rid of him.
  • Driven to Suicide: In his final scene, Nom Anor stays behind on an exploding warship rather than escape with the heroes- his rationale being that there's no longer any place in the galaxy for him. We don't see him die, but it's heavily implied he goes down with the ship.
    • Never Found the Body: Some fans don't buy it because there was no corpse.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Nom's just as bent as the rest of his species on taking over the galaxy, but he finds Tsavong Lah's excessive fundamentalism... well, excessive. And when a guy who caused two planets to get into a nuclear shooting war thinks someone else "takes things too far", that's saying something.
  • Familial Foe: N has a long-running and very personal feud with the Skywalker-Solo clan (Luke, his sister and brother-in-law, his wife and son, and his niece and nephews). He targets members of the family for violent death, The Corruptor efforts, or both.
  • Faux Affably Evil: He's a total bastard with few redeeming features, but his scheming plots and increasing status as the Only Sane Man among the Vong make him a very entertaining character out of universe, and in-universe he's always able to charm the people he needs, even those who should know better.
  • The Heavy: He's easily one of the most featured and developed of the NJO villains, splitting the role with Tsavong Lah. And then he outlives Lah by a good margin...
  • Hazy-Feel Turn: As "the Prophet". His personality and goals haven't really changed - he's still putting himself first - but when the system threw him out, the way to get power was to team up with those working against it, which bears a very superficial resemblance to doing the right thing. And then he backstabs the heretics when he sees a better option, because that's how he rolls.
  • Heel–Face Revolving Door: He spends pretty much the entirety of The Unifying Force desperately allying with and against just about every faction, Vong or "infidel", to try and come out of things in one piece and with as much power as he can muster. He's passing through the revolving door at record speeds.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Subverted. He sides with the heroes in the end only to help himself- and then tries to kill them when they're no longer useful.
  • Hijacked by Ganon: Subverted. Owing to the Never Found the Body nature of his death, fans expected him to reappear for years (real time) and be revealed to be behind everything, but it never happened.
  • I Have Many Names: Uses a lot of aliases and pseudonyms. Nom Anor, Pedric Cuf, Dassid Cree'ar, Hooley Krekk, Amorrn, Yu'Shaa the Prophet...
  • Mad Eye: One of his eyes is actually a plaeryin bol. It's useless for seeing out of, but considering it can shoot poisoned darts, it's a very handy last-ditch weapon.
  • Mad Scientist: Though not a Shaper by caste, he's a rather skilled amateur bioengineer, which comes in handy on several occasions.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Nom Anor is very clever and is always manipulating those around him to get the best advantage for himself. When he's pulling the Agent Provocateur shtick, he's essentially a professional Manipulative Bastard.
  • Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: In The Final Prophecy and The Unifying Force, several of the fake prophecies he made in his Prophet persona start coming true in disturbingly literal ways. It's not clear if something was actually influencing him to make this happen or if he just got lucky (and he was basing his prophecies on information he was privy to, after all) but either way, he's profoundly unsettled by the realization.
  • Non-Action Guy: Nom can fight if he has to, but he's no warrior and his general response to violence is to run away and put other people between him and it.
  • Oh, Crap!: An impressively severe one in Destiny's Way when he comes to the realization the Vong are effectively screwed. It's all he can to do keep from collapsing into a heap right in front of everyone else.
  • Only Sane Man: How he often feels among his own people. He is mostly correct.
  • Smug Snake: At times. Other times his skill and charisma succeed in balancing out his ego.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Experiences this twice in Traitor; the first when Jacen massacres most of the durhayam, and the second when Ganner makes his last stand.
  • Villainous BSoD: His final defeat, in contrast to the above, is downright subdued and even dignified as he realizes and accepts he has nowhere else to run and has to face the consequences of his actions.
  • Villain Protagonist: The Force Heretic trilogy largely follows Anor in his fall from grace and rise back up (and the title may in fact refer to him). In general, though he starts out as simply a recurring villain, from Traitor onwards the NJO is as much his story as it is any of the heroes'.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: Anor's plans fail a fair bit of the time - but that's okay, because he's always got more schemes running. And when they do work out, he typically wins big.

    Drathul 

High Prefect Drathul

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/drathul.jpg

  • Ambition Is Evil: He's thrilled with the power he wields as High Prefect and dreams of taking Shimrra's place.
  • Bait the Dog: Drathul is introduced as a power-hungry Jerkass amidst the Yuuzhan Vong upper echelons. The final book reveals that he's part of a faction that opposed going to war in the first place (and was largely purged for that belief) and that he hates his master. Nonetheless, none of that stops him from opposing the Shamed Ones rebels and trying to have the Solos killed on a sacrificial altar.
  • Big Bad Wannabe: Spends most of the final book scheming to off Shimrra and take over the Vong throne. Actually accomplishing this, on the other hand, is far beyond his abilities.
  • Co-Dragons: With Nas Choka, during the last part of the series. Choka runs the military, while Drathul actually administers the Yuuzhan Vong empire.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: As the highest-ranking member of the intendant caste, he always wears green, in contrast to the warriors and priests, who favor red and black.
  • The Dandy: Not only is Drathul never seen without the full regalia of his position, but Nom Anor notes that he specifically chooses scars and implants that won't detract from his own appearance, which he considers quite handsome. No comment on whether Drathul is actually good-looking by Vong standards.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Appears very briefly at the end of Hero's Trial, then vanishes until the last few books, when he is promoted to High Prefect and becomes one of the major players in Shimrra's court.
  • A Father to His Men: Drathul has a certain degree of loyalty and connection to his subordinates (at least in Force Heretic III: Reunion). His face turns gray when Shimrra orders one of his subordinates and the man's entire family executed. He also requests that Shimrra posthumously restore the names of that man and several others whom Ngaaluh framed for treason.
  • Kick The Son Of A Bitch: As mentioned, he spends a lot of the last book abusing Nom Anor... but, well, Anor is guilty of most of the things Drathul says he is.
  • Killed Off for Real: After spending most of The Unifying Force heaping abuse on Nom Anor, he ends up getting strangled by him when the Shamed Ones revolt.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Though unfortunately for him, he's playing against people like Nom Anor and Onimi, who are much better at it than he is.
  • Non-Action Guy: He's an intendant, so nobody expects him to be able to throw a punch. Ends poorly for him when Nom Anor gets ahold of him.
  • The Rival: To Nom Anor.
  • Rule of Symbolism: As noted, he always wears green, a color traditionally associated with envy - and he's the caste head who most covets Shimrra's position and power.
  • The Starscream: To Shimrra; he's the leader of the faction that supported Shimrra's murdered predecessor (though it's not clear if he has any actual loyalty to Quoreal or if he's just in it for the power).

    Da'Gara 

Prefect Da'Gara

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dagara.jpg

  • Ambition Is Evil: The reason he jumped the gun on the invasion; winning enough early victories without anyone else to get in the way would give the Praetorite a chance to grab a lot of power over the invasion fleet proper when it arrived. Backfired on him horribly.
  • Armchair Military: He's an intendant, but thinks he's got what it takes to run an invasion force. Shedao Shai mentally derides him as a politician playing warrior, while New Republic military officers lampshade the general lack of polish or professionalism in his tactics.
  • Bond Creatures: He has a telepathic link with his yammosk that allows him to oversee the battles the creature is psychically coordinating.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: The first of several.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: Da'Gara's official robes are red, despite later books establishing that Prefects wear green robes (priests are the ones who wear red). Maybe it's a Praetorite thing.
  • Killed Offscreen: We never actually see Da'Gara die, but the fact that the planet he was on exploded leaves little room for doubt regarding his fate.
  • I Have You Now, My Pretty: Notably averted; he's almost gentlemanly in his treatment of Danni (who he saw as a potential convert), which surprises her. She points out that as awful as the Vong were to her, she never got any sense that they had any designs on her sexually, unlike human captors might have in the same situation.
  • Large and in Charge: Setting a trend for Vong leaders; Da'Gara's size is actually the first thing mentioned about him.
  • Mind Rape: Uses his yammosk to inflict this on Miko Reglia as a demonstration of his power.
  • Only One Name: His Domain name is never revealed. This doesn't seem uncommon for prefects.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Subverted. He talks the talk, but his title makes him a high-ranking bureaucrat. When real warriors talk about him, they plainly don't like him.
  • Smug Snake: Da'Gara's arrogance far exceeds what he actually manages to accomplish.
  • Starter Villain: He's the first major Vong leader and the main antagonist of the first book, Vector Prime, but dies at the end of it.
  • Underestimating Badassery: After winning several early battles mostly through the element of surprise, Da'Gara develops a very low opinion of what "infidels" are capable of. This backfires on him spectacularly.
  • You No Take Candle: His Basic is initially horribly mangled; after using a tizowyrm, he gets much better with it. In any case, he's eloquent in his native tongue.

    Yoog Skell 
  • Accidental Murder: Nom tries to knock Yoog unconscious during his attempt to escape after one failure too many and is briefly saddened to realize that he hit his boss over the head with enough force to be lethal.
  • Only Sane Man: Skell talks the rest of Shimrra's court out of purging the Shamed Ones and their allies due to the vital labor they're doing and the additional resources that would be required to sort out all of the true accusations of heresy from the false ones. He also expresses sympathy for a former subordinate who became a Shamed One due to a shaper's error and takes notice of how Shimrra is manipulating the emotions of the court when not even Nom Anor picks up on this.
  • Remember the New Guy?: Yoog Skell is the head of the Intendant caste, Nom Anor's superior and friend (at least as much as people like Nom Anor have friends), and a close advisor to Shimrra, but he's never mentioned before the fourteenth book.

    Phaa Anor 
  • He Knows Too Much: Nom convinces him to go to Shimrra to deliver Nom's message that he's found Zonoma Sekot and is willing to betray the Jeedai Heresy. Nom assures Phaa that he'll be rewarded for doing so but privately thinks that it's more likely that Shimrra will kill him just for knowing about the living planet. It's unrevealed whether or not Nom is correct, but Phaa is never seen or mentioned again.
  • Remember the New Guy?: Phaa is a (relatively) trusted subordinate of his relative Nom Anor but is never mentioned until the eighteenth book.

Priest Caste

    Jakan 

Most High Priest Jakan


  • High Priest: He's the Most High Priest, the leader of the Priest Caste and the most important living person in Yuuzhan Vong religious tradition.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: Jakan's youngest daughter Elan dies in a botched Suicide Mission, something which hardens him.

    Harrar 

Harrar

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/harrar_gamer8.jpg
  • Affably Evil: Even when he was a solid bad guy in his first few appearances, he was still a composed, polite adversary rather than a frothing fanatic, to the point of briefly chatting theology with a sacrificial victim upon finding out the man was also a priest.
  • Characterization Marches On: He's a straight-up villain in his first appearance. Later books would develop him as someone who was becoming increasingly dissatisfied and cynical regarding his people's direction, leaving him open to changing sides.
  • Culture Clash: As a Vong priest, he's quite baffled in his introduction talking with a priest over the idea of good as its own reward. Harrar just doesn't get it.
  • Easily Forgiven: He presided over the sacrifice of thousands of captives and instigated several plots to kill the Jedi, but once he has his change of heart, he's welcomed by the Jedi. Considering that he then was instrumental in ending the war and leading the reform of the Vong, this is probably justified.
  • Heel–Face Turn: After arriving on Sekot, comparing what he sees with Vong mythology, and putting two and two together about his species' origins.
  • High Priest: Though he starts off a normal priest, he eventually gets promoted to higher rank and becomes one of the major Vong religious leaders.
  • Only One Name: Like most priests.
  • Villainous Friendship: With Tsavong Lah.

    Elan 

Elan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/elan_herostrial.jpg
  • Death by Irony: She's ultimately done in by the very toxin she'd been planning to use on the Jedi.
  • Fake Defector: Pretends to defect to the New Republic so she can kill all the Jedi.
  • Femme Fatale: Mentioned several times to be quite the looker by Yuuzan standards, but she's also nuts enough to want to kill lots of people in a horrifically gory fashion, and enjoys the thought of it.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: What she intended, delivering a toxin to as many Jedi as she could and dying herself in the process.
  • Icy Blue Eyes: Her eyes are mentioned to be this shade.
  • Pay Evil unto Evil: Just before she dies, she takes out several members of the Peace Brigade, whose leader at the time was mainly willing to sell out the Galaxy for greed and self-preservation.
  • Unwanted Assistance: Her plan nearly goes belly-up when the Peace Brigade try to "help" the Vong by recapturing her and returning her to them.
  • Unwitting Instigator of Doom: While the doom she was a very witting instigator of never came to pass, she first made the protagonists and Vergere aware of each other. This would not turn out well.

    Ngaaluh 
A priestess of the deception sect, Ngaaluh was high-ranking member of Shimrra's court. She was secretly an ally of Vergere and a member of the Jeedai heresy, aiding the Prophet Yu'Shaa in taking down members of the court.
  • Good Is Not Soft: Ngaaluh is an idealist who believes that the Jedi and the Force are allies of her species gods rather than their enemies and she strives to overthrow the Fantastic Caste System out of genuine conviction. To accomplish this goal, she's willing to frame bureaucrats for treason (causing them to be sacrificed in a particularly brutal way). She also suggests sending several untrustworthy members of the Jeedai Heresy on a Suicide Mission to try and assassinate Shimrra.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Her encounter with Vergere caused her to try and reconcile the existence of the Force with the Yuuzhan Vong gods, which led to a crisis of faith. Deciding that the Jedi were the true prophets of the gods, she became a member of the Jeedai heresy.
  • The Mole: For the Jeedai Heresy within Shimrra's court.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: Ngaaluh considers Nom Anor to be a wise man who's had a Heel–Face Turn and is unable to even consider the notion that he could be cynically manipulating the entire Heresy for his own benefit after being exposed to what she considers to be true enlightenment.

    Takhaff Uul 
  • Sinister Minister: Takhaff is a zealot who worships by performing sacrifices, like most Yuuzhan Vong priests. He takes it a step further by poisoning Lah's new implant to try and make the Warmaster become his puppet in exchange for having the rot "miraculously" stopped.

    Vaecta 

Shamed Ones

    Onimi 

Onimi

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/onimi_9.jpg

Shimrra's court jester, Onimi is hideous looking, even for a Shamed One. Despite his low status, Onimi is often used by Shimrra as an intermediary and is privy to a great number of secrets.


  • Apparently Powerless Puppetmaster: Regarded as little more than a nuisance by the Shimrra's court, while actually being in complete control of the Supreme Overlord.
  • Ax-Crazy: Onimi is a fairly blatant nutcase, though he seems harmless enough, if profoundly obnoxious. Nope; he's an Omnicidal Maniac.
  • Big Bad: Controlled Shimrra and, through him, masterminded the entire war.
  • The Chessmaster: Ruled the Yuuzhan Vong from behind the throne for more than forty years and was the ultimate driving force behind the entire invasion.
  • Court Jester: Of Shimrra's court.
  • Dirty Old Man: In his guise as Master Shaper Kae Kwaad especially, but sometimes as himself, with Nen Yim being the primary object of it in both personas; his age isn't specified, but considering the timeline he's at least in his sixties and may well be much older. This is probably part of his Obfuscating Stupidity, as he shows no sign of it after revealing his true nature.
  • The Dividual: His control over Shimrra is so strong that they essentially function as complementary halves of one being; Onimi is the mind, and Shimrra is the body. Lessened late in TUF, when Shimrra's original personality starts resurfacing.
  • The Dog Was the Mastermind: Most of the other Vong considered him to be, at best, Shimrra's pet. He was actually running the show.
  • Emotion Bomb: He, not Shimrra, is the source of the overwhelmingly powerful emotions the Vong court gets blasted with in order to manipulate them in particular ways.
  • Expy: Of The Foundation Trilogy's Mule, due to being a disfigured jester that controls an empire. It fits his background and attitude. He also has Emotion Control powers like Isaac Asimov's character.
  • Fangs Are Evil: He's got a single jagged fang which is an implant containing a powerful soporific drug.
  • Final Boss: Of the New Jedi Order.
  • For the Evulz: About half of what he does just seems to be screwing with people for his own amusement.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: A low-ranking Shaper turned Shamed One who became the true, secret ruler of the entire Yuuzhan Vong species.
  • Godhood Seeker: He believes that if he kills everyone in the galaxy he'll get the power he needs to become a god. This is in large part driven by his belief that the Jedi are incarnate gods, and in his mind the whole series is a conflict between the established pantheon and himself trying to usurp them, played out through the Republic and the Yuuzhan Vong.
  • Happiness in Slavery: He seems perfectly content to be Shimrra's lapdog, and is noted in The Unifying Force to be apparently the only Shamed One not taking up arms against the elite. That's because he's not a slave, he's actually the master.
  • Ironic Echo: It's not clear if he's doing it on purpose or not, but his first words to Jacen echo things Vergere was fond of saying, which Jacen lampshades.
    "You will find no integrity in me. Trust that everything you perceive about me is a lie.
  • Karmic Death: He gets eaten alive by the very poisons he generates to use against Jacen Solo.
  • Lean and Mean: Onimi has a gangly, cadaverously slender body and he's the Big Bad of the entire saga.
  • Load-Bearing Boss: Shimmra's Citadel and escape craft both die after Onimi perishes. Notably it's seeing this that makes the Vong realize they've lost.
  • Logical Weakness: Because he's the only Vong who can use the Force, he's also the only Vong who can be sensed and affected by the Force. The connection flows both ways.
  • Mad Scientist: He was a Shaper before he was Shamed and his experiments granted him both his disfigured appearance and his Force powers. He continues in this vein as a puppetmaster, and is implied to be the one really responsible - when Nen Yim wasn't - for many of "Shimrra's" inventions.
  • Mind Control: How he maintained his hold on Shimrra.
  • Monster Clown: Well, even the Vong version of a normal clown is pretty horrible to non-Vong. When that clown is an insane Force-savant with delusions of godhood...
  • Motive Rant: He has an extended bout of raving at the twins after he reveals himself, conveniently explaining how he masterminded the war, what motivated him to do so, and what his endgame is.
  • Mouth of Sauron: Shimrra sometimes uses him for this purpose. It's actually the other way around, since Onimi's the brains of the operations and Shimrra's just the public face.
  • My Brain Is Big: Onimi's cranium is disproportionately huge compared to the rest of him; Nom Anor thinks it's probably a Shaper's implant gone wrong. More likely it's the result of him grafting Yammosk tissue to his brain, the source of his psychic abilities.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: Onimi is Shimrra's court jester and personal slave- he's obnoxious, has a cruel sense of humor, and is something of a pervert but is largely harmless except when acting on Shimrra's direct orders. Except that he's actually the Big Bad, a ridiculously powerful Force-user, and an Omnicidal Maniac- Shimrra was never anything more than his tool.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Acts the part of an idiot, but often gives the impression he's much more clever than he lets on. For instance, Nen Yim notes he is very knowledgable about Shaping, while the final chapter of Destiny's Way has him advising Shimrra when they are all alone. While he is insane, Onimi is far from stupid and is the mastermind behind the entire war.
  • Omnicidal Maniac: Openly boasts to Jaina that he intends to kill everything in the galaxy after he becomes a god.
  • Only One Name: Like many Shamed Ones, Onimi doesn't use his domain name as a consequence of his disgrace. As he claims to have been from Shimrra's domain originally, his surname is most likely "Jamaane".
  • Psychic Powers: By performing various experiments on himself, including somehow hybridizing himself with Yammosk DNA, Onimi became the first Yuuzhan Vong in centuries if not millennia to be able to use the Force. Though self-taught, he demonstrates a wide range of powers including Mind Control, generating an Emotion Bomb, telekinesis, Force lightning, and transmuting his bodily fluids into an array of poisons.
  • Psycho Electro: Force lightning is among his powers, which he demonstrates when he unleashes it on Jacen during their confrontation.
  • Rage Against the Heavens: He blames the gods for his fall from grace while giving him fantastic powers, and vows to eliminate them and all life in the galaxy in revenge. Though he hates also the gods, he specifically seems to have it in for Yun-Harla, on whom he blames his condition, and Yun-Shuno, whose philosophy is the antithesis of his own.
  • Rhymes on a Dime: He'll periodically declaim in verse for Shimrra's amusement; most everyone else finds it unbearably annoying but because of who his patron is, they have to grit their teeth and put up with it.
  • Shadow Archetype: For Vergere. Both are powerful Force-users who exist outside the stereotypical Jedi/Sith duality, both disguised their true natures by living as low-status beings among the Yuuzhan Vong while covertly advancing their own agendas, and both of them even display an ability to manipulate their own body chemistry in useful ways. The difference is that Vergere wanted to stop the war before it destroyed both sides; Onimi just wants to kill everybody so he can have his revenge on the gods.
  • Squishy Wizard: Downplayed. Despite his formidable Force powers, physically he's small and frail - by Vong standards. He's still pretty strong physically compared to humans, such as Jaina or Jacen, particularly if he can take them by surprise.
  • Walking Spoiler: He's probably the most important Vong character in the series, but his true role doesn't become apparent until the climax of the last of nineteen books.
  • Wham Line: "Shimrra was Shimrra. I am I. The Supreme Overlord."
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: His experiments reconnected him with the Force, but they also drove him more than a little crazy.

    Vua Rapuung 

Vua Rapuung

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vua_rapuung_swleu_1219.jpg

  • Badass Boast: When his former comrades ask him to step aside and let them kill Anakin now that Vua Rapuung is no longer shamed? "I was never shamed. but you now you know it is a warrior you face."
  • Berserk Button: Inorganic technology sets him off, nearly resulting in him attacking Anakin. Mentioning he's a Shamed One and anything to do with Mezhan Qwaad will have the same effect.
  • Clear My Name: His intent is to prove that Mezhan Kwaad sabotaged his implants and that the gods did not shame him.
  • Enemy Mine: With Anakin.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: He dies so Anakin and Tahiri can escape, believing he's indebted to Anakin for helping to clear his name and that the Jedi and other infidels may yet have some honor.
  • Insistent Terminology: Vua insists on his species being called by their full name and gets very testy when Anakin just calls them "Vong."
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Against Mezhan Kwaad. The two were lovers until Vua Rapuung broke the affair off, causing her to spitefully turn him into a Shamed One.

    Kunra 

Kunra

"Our faith that the way of the jeedai is a better one–a fairer one for all, not just those enslaved by the old gods–sustains us when all reason tells us that we should have given up long ago. Perhaps one day, by virtue of that faith, we will have the chance to regain our self-respect and emerge from the holes in which we cower."

A disgraced warrior, Kunra joined the Jeedai heretics in the depths of Yuuzhan'tar. He becomes one of Nom Anor's lieutenants after the disgraced Executor takes up the role of Yu'shaa, the Prophet.


  • Dirty Coward: He is Shamed not because his biotic implants didn't take during Shaping, but due to being a coward. He does not even have a full set of warrior tattoos.
  • Hidden Depths: Even before his Character Development, he shows several times that he's significantly savvier and more competent than one would expect.
  • Rebel Leader: Takes over as primary leader of the Jeedai Heretics once Nom Anor is restored to power.
  • The Starscream: Knows that Nom Anor cares only for himself, so once he gets the chance Kunra takes over leadership of the Jeedai heretics and uses Nom Anor as a puppet when he tries to disband the movement.
  • Took a Level in Badass: His faith in the Jeedai brings him courage, and he turns out to be a skilled warrior, eventually leading the Shamed Ones in revolt.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: He vanishes midway through The Unifying Force with no word on his final fate.

    Shoon-mi Esh 

Shoon-mi Esh

  • Bond Villain Stupidity: When Shoon-mi tries to assassinate Nom Anor, he spends a while talking to Nom rather than moving to kill him, to the point where Nom wonders if Shoon-mi is having trouble working up the will to actually kill him, despite his Broken Pedestal feelings toward Nom.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Shoon-mi cares for the safety of his sister and fellow heretic Nirit, even though she views him as a coward.
  • Broken Pedestal: Shoon-mi is initially Nom's closest and most dedicated supporter, but comes to view Nom with disgust after observing his callous reaction to the deaths of loyal allies.
  • The Starscream: Within the heretics, towards Nom. It's unclear if he just wants power, or honestly believes that Nom is a bad leader who needs to be replaced, or a little bit of both.

    Niiriit Esh 
  • Beneath the Earth: She leads a group of Shamed Ones trying to remain neutral and eke out an existence in the tunnels of Coruscant.
  • Genius Bruiser: Niiriit is a muscular former member of the Warrior Caste but Manipulative Bastard Nom Anor finds himself intrigued by her keen mind.

    Vuurok I'pan 
  • Small Role, Big Impact: I'Pan has a tertiary role in a single book, but he's the one who first introduces Nom Anor to the Jeedai Heresy.
  • Stealth Expert: He's good at moving around quietly and can pass for a pile of rubbish while lying on the ground.
  • The Storyteller: I'Pan recounts exaggerated tales about the Shamed Ones mythology to his friends.
  • Uncertain Doom: I'Pan is presumed dead after Nom and Kunra escape an attack on their group and don't see anyone else do so, but his death is never confirmed.

    Hul Qat 
  • Bait-and-Switch: He's introduced leading a group of Yuuzhan Vong who are tracking Tahiri, then it's revealed that they're Shamed Ones seeking Zonoma Sekot and mean her no harm.
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Hul Qat fights several warriors back to back with Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila.
  • Let Them Die Happy: As he succumbs to his wounds, Tahiri lies to him that he has indeed found the living planet and can accomplish his people's goals.
  • Made of Iron: Hul Qat suffers an injury that causes him to bleed from the mouth, but is still able to tackle a haughty warrior and impale him with his own weapon, then joins Tahiri in fleeing from Yuuzhan Vong reinforcements for an hour before his wounds overcome him.
  • One-Steve Limit: Hul shares a given name with Vua Rapuung's brother.
  • Scarily Competent Tracker: Hul is a trained hunter who follows Tahiri's tracks over moss on a misty day and can tell how she turned to glance back, suggesting she's nearby and knows of his group's presence.
  • We Hardly Knew Ye: He's mortally wounded in the chapter he's introduced in.

    Uunu 
  • Can't Stop The Signal: It is implied that she may be the originator of the Shamed Ones Jeedai Heresy due to her interactions with Anakin and seeing Vua Rapuung regain his past status. Tsavong Lah orders the execution of any Shamed One caught voicing those beliefs on Yavin 4. Whether Uunu herself is killed is unknown, but the belief itself spreads far and wide across Yuuzhan Vong territory, birthing a truly massive resistance movement.
  • Informed Deformity: In-Universe. It's noted that disfiguring implant rejections mark most Shamed Ones, but Uunu merely has unusually bright eyes.
  • Odd Friendship: She possesses many of the fanatical Yuuzhan Vong beliefs but strikes up a friendship with Anakin (who's undercover as a slave), and the two earnestly discuss each other's viewpoints.
  • The World Is Just Awesome: She grew up on a crowded world ship and is enchanted by the Galaxy Far Far Away.

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