Savage Opress – ‘Star Wars’ Character Spotlight

This week, we’re looking at Savage Opress on our Star Wars Character Spotlight, our second-favorite Zabrak darksider.

 

Voiced by the legendary Clancy Brown, Savage Opress existed entirely in The Clone Wars animated series, a Force-sensitive Zabrak who allied himself with various dark side users throughout the war. Savage was plucked from obscurity and used as a pawn by the larger dark side players to achieve their own ends, eventually finding kinship in his fellow Zabrak Darth Maul. 

 

Dathomir

 

 

Savage was the leader of his clan of Nightbrothers on Dathomir, living in subservience to the Nightsister witches. When Asajj Ventress announced that she would host a competition for a Nightbrother to prove his worth as her mate and servant, Savage competed against his brothers for what he thought was a place at her side. 

 

He won the competition after killing his brother to prove his loyalty to Ventress, but the prize was not what was promised. He was to become an acolyte to Count Dooku instead, and Mother Talzin put him through a painful process to transform his body into a hulking mass using Nightsister magick. 

 

He was instructed to act as a double agent, pretending to serve Count Dooku until the moment that Ventress and the other Nightsisters decided to take their revenge on him. Dooku was very pleased with Savage’s potential and took him back to Serenno to begin his Sith training. 

 

Dooku’s acolyte

 

 

Savage took his place as Dooku’s apprentice and underwent intense training at his palace on Serenno. While he eventually began to use a double-bladed lightsaber and displayed potential, each failure was punished by a bout of Force lightning from his master, who criticized his sloppy technique and raw fighting style. Savage grew resentful of his master, which is what Dooku wanted, but it meant he was still fully on board with Ventress’ plan to kill him.

 

Early on in his training, he was sent on a mission to Devaron, where he slaughtered several clone troopers and killed a Jedi master and his padawan, alerting the Jedi Council to his existence.

 

Opress was eventually sent on a mission to Toydaria, where he was tasked with capturing King Katuunko who had declared his loyalty to the Republic. He made short work of the King’s guards but accidentally killed the king in a fit of rage. He was confronted by Obi-Wan and Anakin, who had been on his trail for a while, but he blew past them and fled the planet with Katuunko’s corpse. 

 

Dooku was not pleased that he killed the king and subjected him to more Force lightning as punishment, after Savage had begged him to show mercy. It was soon after this that Ventress showed up to enact her plan of revenge. The Nightsister had been forced into action early and Savage was not yet powerful enough to kill Dooku even with her help. 

 

 

Dooku fended them both off and Savage found himself barely able to deflect his Force lightning. When he complained that the Sith Lord was too strong, Ventress berated him for being too weak. Already struggling from Dooku’s physical abuse in training, Savage snapped hearing Ventress’ cruel words and turned against them both. 

 

In a fit of rage, he Force choked the pair of them until he was distracted by blaster fire from battle droids. When Dooku fled with Ventress in pursuit, Savage decided to escape the planet by himself and returned to Mother Talzin on Dathomir, believing her to be the only person who had ever shown him love. 

 

He didn’t stay on Dathomir long, as Talzin revealed that his fellow Nightbrother Maul still lived on a remote planet. She sent him off to find him, and he retained hope that he could find someone who would treat him like family, and not as a pawn to be cast aside in war. 

 

Brothers

 

 

Savage eventually found his brother Maul on the junkyard planet Lotho Minor. Savage was alarmed to discover that the fearsome Sith had become unhinged in his time alone, but was determined to rescue him and restore him to his former glory. He brought Maul back to Dathomir and Mother Talzin carried out a ritual to heal his mind. 

 

With his mind clear, Maul embarked on a quest for vengeance against those who wronged him and Savage gladly joined his side. While Maul wasn’t exactly loving, it was a far more equal relationship to the one he’d shared with the abusive Dooku. Maul valued his brother’s loyalty and genuinely loved him. 

 

Savage was happy to help Maul in his revenge quest, which started with luring Obi-Wan to the planet Raydonia by slaughtering innocent civilians. When Obi-Wan arrived, he inadvertently teamed up with Asajj Ventress, now a bounty hunter who was intent on collecting a bounty on Savage’s head. However, the Jedi and former Sith acolyte struggled against Maul and Savage, and were forced to flee the two Zabraks. 

 

Maul and Savage next turned their sights to deposing Darth Sidious to become the new Sith Lords ruling the galaxy. Maul figured the best way to secure galactic domination was to run the criminal underworld, and Savage went along with his plan, even agreeing to become his Sith apprentice. 

 

Their first attempt was to take control of the Ohnaka Gang, a plan that was interrupted when Obi-Wan and Adi Gallia arrived at the pirate base on Jedi business. A fight inevitably broke out and Savage Opress killed Master Gallia – a council member – by impaling her on his horns, a gruesome death. 

 

While this was an incredible accomplishment for the budding Sith Lord, his fortunes changed in the same fight when Obi-Wan managed to cut off his left arm with his lightsaber. Outnumbered by Kenobi and the pirates, the two brothers were forced to flee. 

 

Death Watch and The Shadow Collective

 

 

Obi-Wan pursued the brothers as they fled, shooting their ship down on the planet Zanbar, which happened to be the current base of Death Watch. The rebel Mandalorian group took in the unconscious Zabraks and gave them new cybernetic limbs, replacing Maul’s legs and giving Savage a new arm. 

 

Savage followed Maul in allying with Death Watch, promising to help them take over Mandalore. Maul managed to marry this alliance with his plans to dominate the underworld, using his association with Death Watch to demand an audience with the Black Sun crime syndicate. After Savage decapitated all but one of the Black Sun ruling council, the sole survivor agreed to serve Maul. 

 

Maul, Savage and Pre Viszla headed to Nal Hutta next to secure an alliance with the Hutts. Their demands were not well received, and they were forced to kill the Hutt leader there and deal with Jabba on Tatooine instead. After another fight, Jabba agreed to ally with Maul and his forces, operating under the umbrella banner of The Shadow Collective. 

 

Star Wars Adventures #3 has an addition to this tour of the galactic crime families, detailing a story where Maul let himself be captured by the Morubas crime family and Savage led Shadow Collective forces to rescue him, eventually adding the Morubas to their ranks. 

 

With a small army of Death Watch and criminal syndicates under his control, Maul, Savage and Pre Viszla invaded Mandalore and deposed the pacifist ruler Satine Kryze. With Death Watch finally in control of Mandalore, Viszla betrayed Maul and Savage and locked them in prison. 

 

Their containment didn’t last long. The brothers broke out of their cell – also freeing the duplicitous prime minister Almec – and fought their way to the throne room, where Maul challenged Viszla to a duel. Savage watched as Maul killed him and claimed his darksaber, pronouncing himself as the new leader of Death Watch and ruler of Mandalore. 

 

Death

 

 

In taking Mandalore, the two brothers had flown too close to the sun. While the Jedi were well aware of the danger Maul and Savage posed, taking control of a notable military power attracted the attention of Darth Sidious. Sidious now recognized Maul and Savage as a potential threat to his power, and intended to eliminate them before that threat became real. 

 

He traveled to Mandalore himself and challenged the brothers to a duel. Though Savage Opress fought well, he was ultimately no match for the Sith Lord and was stabbed through the chest by Sidious’ twin lightsaber blades. His death rocked Maul, who lost his edge and was captured by Sidious for his own nefarious purposes. 

 

Savage was allowed a moment with Maul while he was on death’s door. In his final words, he expressed sorrow that he had let his brother down by being unable to equal his power. As he died, the Dathomiri green mist dissipated and his body returned to the man he had been before Mother Talzin’s ritual. 

 

Savage Opress technically appeared once more in the Stories of Jedi and Sith anthology book, as Maul makes his way through an ancient Sith temple. He is haunted by a vision of Savage, who accuses him of failing as both a role model and a brother. 

 

Maul was devastated by the loss of his brother, using it to fuel his own rage. He briefly mentions the Sith killing his brother when speaking to Ezra Bridger in Star Wars Rebels over a decade later. 

 

What next?

 

It will probably be a while before we see Savage Opress again. He can always reappear in any comics and novels set during the Clone Wars, but it seems the majority of his story has been told and it doesn’t appear that his life before the war would be particularly interesting to explore. 

 

Do you think there’s room for more Star Wars stories with Savage Opress?