Marda Ro

Marda Ro was a female Evereni who lived in 382 BBY as part of the Ro family. At that time, she was on the planet Dalna as part of the Path of the Open Hand cult alongside her cousin, Yana Ro. Marda respected and believed in the cult's leader, the Mother. Ro was quiet, cool, and collected.

Marda Ro met a Pantoran Jedi named Kevmo Zink during the Jedi Order's mission to investigate the missing Rod of Seasons. Due to the Path's beliefs in avoiding the use of the Force, Ro and Zink challenged each other's ideologies, but Ro fell in love with him all the same. When Zink fell victim to the Leveler, Ro blamed the Jedi, not the Mother, for his demise, reasoning to herself that Zink had been indoctrinated into the wrong belief system by the Jedi. She also reasoned to herself that Zink's death was an act from the Force to balance itself. As such, she resolved to bring down the Jedi Order on the belief it would better the galaxy and escaped Dalna with the rest of the Path aboard the Gaze Electric to travel to the holy moon Jedha. Ro was thus dubbed the "Guide of the Path of the Open Hand." By the day, she became more and more radicalized.

However, the Convocation of the Force on Jedha did not accept the Path's petition and the Herald sparked a riot that engulfed the Holy City in violence and became the Battle of Jedha. Having brought the Path there, Ro was looked down upon for the carnage she had brought them to. However, she met Bokana Koss during the battle, who supported her and who she developed romantic feelings for. Wanting to prove herself after her perceived failure, Ro joined Path member and prospector Radicaz Dobbs and his team as well as Koss on a mission to the fabled Planet X to retrieve more Nameless. While they retrieved many eggs, they were attacked by guardians called the Under-Dweller and the protector and Koss sacrificed himself to stop the latter creature. Blaming his apparent death on abuse of the Force, as Koss had developed Force-sensitivity, and feeling incensed with rage and purpose, Ro appeared before a crowd that the Mother had gathered to witness the hatching of the newly retrieved Nameless eggs. Ro declared that the Path of the Open Hand would become a Path of the Closed Fist to fight back against and defeat the Jedi, incensing them to engage in battle with Jedi that had come to Dalna, leading to a massive battle that became known as the Night of Sorrow.

After the battle, Ro learned that the Mother had been lying to the Path about her supposed visions and had been hypocritically using the Force herself. She thus killed the Mother with the Leveler. Marda parted ways with Yana and set out to carry on the mission to free the Force with a new plan. As she sat on the flight deck of the Gaze Electric, Marda used brikal-shell paint to paint three jagged lines on her head, founding the Nihil. In time, she came to see her efforts as not those of a religion nor something related to the Force, feeling much emptiness as she went about her new life. She gathered many remaining members of the Path of the Open Hand who had never known the Closed Fist into her operation, encouraging them to perform raids and take what they wanted. She brought the Leveler with her, taking care of the creature and feeding it Jedi. She also started to search for more of her species in the hopes of starting a family. After finding an Evereni old man only known as "Isren," which meant "old uncle," who taught her much about their people, she eventually located the Evereni siblings Vika and Velya Faer, welcoming them among her number. After a clash between Vika and Alirya, Ro's right hand, left both dead, Ro invited Velya, who had developed romantic feelings for her, to be her new right hand and the two entered a close relationship, intending to build a legacy for the Ro family as her new ultimate goal.

Text and facts from the “Marda Ro” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.