Shaak Ti was among the countless Jedi who perished during Order 66 inStar Wars, but she is one of the few to have multiple deaths. Created for theStar Warsprequel trilogy, Shaak Ti was a Togruta Jedi Master who sat on the Jedi Council during the Clone Wars. She was featured in the Clone Wars multimedia project that attempted to fill the three-year gap between films, and she made her final live-action appearance inStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. She also became a recurring character inStar Wars: The Clone Wars.
However, while Shaak Ti was originally supposed to die in the film with the rest of the Order, behind-the-scenes changes kept this from happening. It also started a trend of George Lucas writing multiple scenes and overseeing several projects that tried to kill off Shaak Ti in their own way. From live-action to animation to video games, Shaak Ti had multiple death scenes, and unused story drafts contained more ideas. Shaak Ti has five deaths across theStar Warsfranchise, but only one is considered part of the official canon.
5Shaak Ti Was Originally Supposed To Be Killed By General Grievous
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sithdeleted scene
Shaak Ti’s first intended death was in adeleted scene fromStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sithduring Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s rescue mission. Aptly titled “Grievous Slaughters a Jedi,” the scene begins with Anakin and Obi-Wan rounding a corner, where they discover Shaak Ti sitting on the floor with General Grievous and four MagnaGuards standing behind her. She apologizes to Obi-Wan for failing to save Chancellor Palpatine, and Grievous wastes no time in stabbing her through the chest with his lightsaber as the two Jedi are unable to save her.
According to George Lucas' DVD commentary, the scene was cut purely to shorten the runtime. The original cut ofRevenge of the Sithwas much longer than the final 140-minute version, with Lucas revealing that it took a full hour before the heroes crash-landed on Coruscant. Cutting the scene allowed Lucas to move some of the dialogue to the bridge scene"… so that we didn’t really lose any of the important information, we just did it in a much more economical way.“However, Lucas wasn’t ready to give up on having Shaak Ti die inRevenge of the Sith.
4Shaak Ti Was Killed In Another Revenge Of The Sith Deleted Scene
This time during Order 66
The next deleted version of Shaak Ti’s death showed her being killed by Anakin Skywalker in the Jedi Temple during Order 66. While meditating in her chambers, Anakin walks in and Shaak Ti asks what he needs, only to be stabbed in the back and fall to the floor. Anakin leaves and walks through the Jedi Temple as the clones massacre the other Jedi while statues begin to collapse. Unlike Shaak Ti’s first death at Grievous' hand, this scene is noticeably unfinished, with unpolished visual effects and a Jedi Temple battle done as a CGI animatic.
While this scene was also considered non-canon at the time, it was supported by otherStar Warsreleases.LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game, which came out almost two months beforeRevenge of the Sith, featured a hologram of Anakin cutting Shaak Ti’s head off. The movie novelization by Matthew Stover also mentions that she was meditating during Order 66, and Anakin asked another Jedi where Shaak Ti was. Ultimately, Shaak Ti was spared an onscreen death despite Lucas' efforts, leaving room for her to return in futureStar Warsstories.
3Shaak Ti Was Killed In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
She was the final Jedi Master defeated by Starkiller
With neitherRevenge of the Sithdeath coming to fruition, the creative team behindStar Wars: The Force Unleashedmade Shaak Ti an Order 66 survivor. After escaping the Jedi Purge, she ended up on Felucia and trained an apprentice named Maris Brood. She became the third Jedi Master targeted by Starkiller, Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, and the two dueled above an abyss containing a giant sarlacc. When Starkiller defeated her, she warned him that the Sith always betrayed one another before falling into the sarlacc, releasing a blast of Force energy.
Although Lucas didn’t writeThe Force Unleashed’s story, he did give direction and approval, making this the third Shaak Ti death he oversaw. According toThe Art and Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashedby Haden Blackman and Brett Rector, early story drafts had different ideas for Shaak Ti’s death. One version had Starkiller kill Shaak Ti on Alderaan while she was the guardian of the royal family, a murder witnessed by Princess Leia. This would lead to Vader turning on Starkiller when his apprentice couldn’t bring himself to kill Leia, setting the rest of the story in motion.
2There’s An Alternate Death For Shaak Ti In The Force Unleashed
One exclusive to the game’s mobile version
While only one version of Shaak Ti’s death made it into the console version ofThe Force Unleashed, it was slightly different in the mobile Nokia N-Gage version. The story is the same with Starkiller dueling Shaak Ti on Felucia, but he wins the fight differently. He uses the Force to make a carnivorous plant attack Shaak Ti as she charges at him, making her collapse to the ground. She still tells him that the Sith always betray one another, but she doesn’t hint that he will soon find out, and she dies without falling into a sarlacc pit.
Starkiller, Darth Vader’s Secret Apprentice: Force Powers, Rebel Alliance Role, & Canon References Explained
In Star Wars Legends, long before Darth Vader asked his son to help him overthrow Emperor Palpatine, he had a secret apprentice known as Starkiller.
Another mobile version for non-smartphones had Starkiller kill Shaak Ti in an even simpler manner, with the limited cutscenes and graphics not showing her death or having any final dialogue. All these variations show that Shaak Ti has more death scenes even within a single story, similar to the previously mentioned adaptations ofRevenge of the Sith. Even so,The Force Unleashedappeared to be the official version of Shaak Ti’s death, but like the deleted scenes, it too would eventually be contradicted.
1Shaak Ti’s Death In Star Wars Canon
Her final death is the same yet different
The final version of Shaak Ti’s death was inStar Wars: The Clone Warsseason 6, episode 11 “Voices,” retroactively making one of her previous deaths canon. When Yoda is guided to Dagobah by the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn, he experiences a vision of the Jedi dying during Order 66, including Shaak Ti. She kneels on the ground and glances over her shoulder in confusion, only to be stabbed through the chest. Whenthe officialStar Warscontinuity was rebooted in 2014, only the movies andThe Clone Warsremained part of the new timeline, making this Shaak Ti’s canon death.
While Shaak Ti’s killer seemed to be Anakin, as in theRevenge of the Sithdeleted scene, this wasn’t confirmed until 2016.Star Wars: Galactic Atlasstates that Anakin killed Shaak Ti, but this doesn’t mean her canon death is the same as the deleted scene. Yoda’s vision implies that Anakin managed to sneak up on her, whileStar Wars(2015) #9 shows Luke Skywalker finding a holocron recording of Shaak Ti that she seemingly made just before Order 66. Perhaps futureStar Warsstories will focus on Shaak Ti and depict yet another version of her many, many deaths.
Star Wars
Star Wars is a multimedia franchise that started in 1977 by creator George Lucas. After the release of Star Wars: Episode IV- A New Hope (originally just titled Star Wars), the franchise quickly exploded, spawning multiple sequels, prequels, TV shows, video games, comics, and much more. After Disney acquired the rights to the franchise, they quickly expanded the universe on Disney+, starting with The Mandalorian.
