There may only be a handful of true Sith Lords in the Star Wars universe, but the comics have just made history by adding one more. Fans, it's time to meet Lady Shaa - the first FEMALE Sith Master in the new Star Wars canon.

The Sith Master makes her debut in Darth Vader #22, the much anticipated story that started by bringing Vader face-to-face with the spirit of Sith Lord Momin, added to the Star Wars movie canon just as recently. While alluded to in the past as a long-dead artist strong in the Dark Side, Lord Momin's true role was even grander, helping Darth Vader build his castle to resurrect Padmé. But before Vader let Momin take the lead, he needed to hear his story.

The story of how Momin grew from a terrifying artist to a Lord of the Sith... and the Lady of the Sith who chose him as her apprentice. Needless to say, SPOILERS.

Master Shaa, The First Sith Lady

As older Star Wars fans already know, there were plenty of women strong in the Dark Side of the Force, even considered Sith and bearing the title "Darth" in the expanded universe. Darth Traya, Darth Zannah, Darth Cognus, Darth Talon... the list goes on and on. But when Disney made only the movies and shows canonical, those stories became merely "legends," cutting the list of official Sith down in size.

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For reference, these are the only named Sith Lords-- well, these were, before the tale of Shaa was told:

  • Darth Atrius
  • Darth Bane
  • Darth Plagueius
  • Darth Sidious
  • Darth Maul
  • Darth Tyranus
  • Darth Vader

Of those seven, only the recently added Darth Atrius came from the comics, with the rest referred to by name in Star Wars films and TV series. But a single issue of Darth Vader has just added two names to the list, including its first woman to seemingly honor Darth Bane's "Rule of Two." And since it's her apprentice telling the story in Darth Vader #22, we had better let him do the talking.

Lord Momin, Master Shaa's Last Apprentice

As readers can glean from the images above, it was Shaa who first heard whispers of the boy named Momin, using an apparent link to the Dark Side of The Force to turn living things into grotesque "works of art" (presumably making them into not-so-living things in the process). That predilection to evil clearly caught Shaa's ear, and she tracked him down before breaking him out of prison. As Momin explains, "The Lady Shaa" soon explained that she was taking Momin as her apprentice, to be trained by her as a master in The Force and the ways in which its Dark Side could be wielded.

For Momin, his understanding led to not just the creation of his own pair of lightsabers to match his master's, but a helmet which would be his new face as a practitioner of the Dark Side. To Momin, it was an evolution of his worship of artistic pursuits. And to prove he was one sick puppy, Momin mutilated his face with his own lightsabers before donning the helmet - all to the pleasure of Master Shaa. Unfortunately for her, Momin wasn't too interested in the titles or goals of the Sith, or the label of "apprentice" or "student."

But the tradition of Sith apprentices murdering their Sith masters? That Momin was completely on board with...

Page 2 of 2: Momin Slays Master Shaa, Takes Jedi Apprentice?

Lady Shaa is Killed By Her Apprentice, Momin

You don't become as infamous and terrifying a figure as Lord Momin by NOT having a serious ego, and from the first time Master Shaa told him that he was below her, ranked as merely an apprentice to her superior skill, the clock was ticking. Arguably, the same way it would be if any other power-hungry, arrogant Sith apprentice had been in his position. In fact, Momin's story focuses solely on his own rise to power, so it's unclear exactly where in the sequence of Sith Lords Shaa falls. For now, at least.

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Not that Momin was concerned with any of the Sith legacy or quest for vengeance against the Jedi, or ambition to found a new Sith Empire. Momin serves only Momin, which makes him truer a Sith than he probably ever realized. Like all other Sith Masters before and after him, Momin claimed the rank by murdering his teacher - in combat, at least, making him a more honorable Sith than the Emperor.

Yet Lord Momin had no other love or goal than The Dark Side of The Force, which he sought to honor and feed, with no time to waste on a student or apprentice. Gathering acolytes to his cruel, macabre designs, Momin set out to deliver an offering of supreme suffering to The Force. A mission he failed, thanks to the Jedi. But as he burned to nothing, Lord Momin may have taken his first "apprentice" after all...

Lord Momin Takes a Jedi as... His First Apprentice?

The two Jedi who crash Momin's plan - to incinerate an entire city, then master time to freeze them in their moment of abject terror as tribute to the Dark Side - aren't named, and never speak. But Momin's narration of his death reveals a greater understanding of what it means to serve and wield the Dark Side. As an artist, he was driven to perfect his cruel servitude of the Dark Side, even as his helmet gazed upon the faces of the Jedi who defeated him. And as a Sith, whether he cared to be called one or not, he understood that "if you do not feed the Dark Side, it feeds on you."

Those words are paired with the ominously images of the Jedi raising up Momin's helmet, and staring intently into its disembodied eyes as they begin to glow red. In his prior appearances, this was the sign that Momin was seducing, if not outright possessing his targets. So if fans are wondering how the Sith teachings that passed from Shaa to Momin didn't get erased, this unnamed Jedi making its first connection to the Sith Lord may provide the answer. Momin may have failed to create a perfect piece of art to devote to the Dark Side, but it's heavily implied that this Jedi would be Momin's next canvas. That mystery, however, will have to wait.

--

It's hard to believe that in a single issue of Charles Soule's and Giuseppe Camuncoli's Vader comic, they dropped matching bombshells: the first Sith Lady in the new Star Wars canon, and the revelation that Vader's Castle was her apprentice's masterpiece, intended to conquer even death. If fans aren't keeping up to date on Star Wars comics, this is a perfect example of why that needs to change. Who knows how long it will take for a female Sith Lord to appear in a Star Wars movie?

Darth Vader #22 is available now from Marvel Comics.

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