My analysis on Jaesa Willsaam will be based on the following sources: The Old Republic MMO, The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural, and the Old Republic Encyclopedia. Throughout the following analysis, I present Jaesa only as she is known in her canonical (that is, canonical within the EU/Legends continuity) version.
Jaesa Willsaam was born on Alderaan to Gregor and Parvin Willsaam and spent her early life as a handmaiden to Gesselle Organa of the House Organa.
Her family was not a wealthy one, and her parents had hoped to increase their family's lot when it was decided that she would marry an Organa noble. Fate interceded when her Force-sensitivity manifested itself. Recognizing the tremendous opportunity for their child, her parents allowed her to be taken for training by the Jedi.
For an unknown length of time, Willsaam was trained in the ways of the Force by Jedi Master Yonlach on Tatooine. During one of her trials, she faced the sand demon unarmed and walked out unharmed. Willsaam was quite skilled in wielding a double-bladed lightsaber and displayed great skill at using the third form of lightsaber combat, Soresu.
Nomen Karr recognized that Willsaam had a unique Force ability, the ability to see and determine the true nature of other sentient species. In her, Karr saw an opportunity root out and dismantle the intelligence network of his longtime Sith rival, Darth Baras. At her master's behest, Willsaam was able to identify some of Baras' operatives on Balmorra and Nar Shaddaa.
Her existence and talent–though not her identity–were uncovered by Baras on Dromund Kaas, by torturing the information out of a captured agent of the Republic. Baras quickly assigned his promising new apprentice to seek out and destroy individuals from Willsaam's past, hoping to draw her out of hiding.
After two of the spies she had uncovered were silenced by the Sith apprentice, Willsaam began more and more to feel the approach of the dark side. The Sith warrior soon began tracking down people she was close to. The apprentice first sought out Master Yonlach on Tatooine. Willsaam's old master managed to warn her via their Force bond that the Sith were attempting to draw her out of hiding before he met a painful death. And when Willsaam finally felt her own parents' deaths on Alderaan, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She contacted the Empire's Wrath to arrange a one-on-one meeting without her master’s knowledge.
Karr quickly discovered Willsaam's plan and, after judging it foolish and forbidding her to go through with it, sent Jedi Knights Zylixx and Ulldin to eliminate the Sith threat. The two Knights would prove to be no match for the Sith warrior and were easily defeated. Karr was finally determined to end the threat to Willsaam's life and arranged for a duel to the death with Darth Baras on Nal Hutta to resolve their conflict. In order both to protect himself and to put Karr off-balance, Baras sent his mighty apprentice to the duel in his stead. As Jedi Master and Sith apprentice clashed, the Sith tricked the old Jedi into falling to the dark side in order to further taunt Willsaam.
When her Jedi Master was defeated, Willsaam finally emerged from hiding, sensing that he was being tortured and saw her Master in his twisted state. At first, she considered the possibility that Karr had been hiding this all along, but then accused the Warrior of corrupting her Master. The Warrior encouraged her to use her power on Karr to see the truth. Willsaam complied and despite seeing dark traits within Karr, she refused to believe it. The Warrior continued to taunt her into releasing her anger and battled the Padawan, easily able to defeat the young Jedi. Defeated, Willsaam became convinced that Karr's teachings about the light side being stronger than the dark side were nothing but a lie. Karr reminded her that she hasn't completed her training and promises that when she fully communed with the light side of the Force, no Sith could be her match. Nonetheless, Willsaam acknowledged the Warrior's power and was accepted as a Sith apprentice. Her first act was to strike down her former master with her own hands. Though Karr pleaded her not to let the Sith turn her into a murderer, Willsaam coldly retorted that the Jedi hypocritically do likewise to justify their actions, and decapitated Karr. Willsaam joined the Sith Warrior as a newly anointed Sith apprentice when they departed from Nal Hutta. The Warrior was granted the rank of Sith Lord for success in hunting her down, and she became a willing agent of the Empire.
Their adventures would take them across the galaxy, as they sought to undermine both the Republic and the Jedi and worked tirelessly to re-ignite open war between the Republic and the Sith Empire. She demonstrated devotion to her Master, vowing never to follow the Sith traditions involving killing the Master. When her Master was chosen as the Emperor's Wrath, Jaesa became excited, knowing that this would place them closer to the Sith Emperor and ultimate power, believing that the Wrath could lead the Empire to glory. Ultimately, Jaesa vowed to stay by her master’s side to help mold future apprentices.
Eventually, Jaesa became aware that many Sith were leaning towards the light side. With her master's leave, Jaesa used her free time to find Sith who followed some aspects of the light side. Eventually, she learned of Lord Cendence, who was tasked by the Dark Council in eliminating light side Sith. However, Jaesa became concerned over Cendence's high kill list.
Upon gaining an audience, she quickly realized that Cendence simply killed whomever he wished; very few of his targets were light side Sith. Cendence recognized that Jaesa's power would validate his work. He attempted to convince her to betray her master, but she simply laughed in his face and killed him. Caliqu, the Dark Council's emissary and Cendence's superior, was present at the time and granted Jaesa Cendence's mandate.
Willsaam continued to serve her master over the next few years, becoming one of the Wrath's closest friends and confidants. She stood by their side during the Conquest of Makeb and the Revanite crisis, when the former dark lord Revan attempted to revive the Sith Emperor Vitiate, who's previous host body was slain by the Hero of Tython three years earlier. The victory of the Yavin Coalition resulted in a brief period of stability returning the Sith Empire, which had been on the verge of total collapse. In order to ensure that the Sith remained a united force, Darth Marr made Jaesa's master the "Empire's Wrath", who became Marr's right hand along with Darth Nox, another member of the Dark Council.
During the remainder of her tenure as the Wrath's apprentice, Willsaam continued to serve both the Sith Lord and the Empire loyally.
In 3637 BBY, a mysterious army initiated an incursion into both Republic and Imperial space. During this time, as Darth Marr organized a joint expedition into Wild Space, the de-facto Emperor's fleet was attacked by another armada of mysterious origin. This battle became the catalyst to the rise of a third galactic power: The Eternal Empire. Immediately after, the Wrath mysteriously disappeared.
After the Wrath's sudden disappearance, the Sith Lord's crew began to mourn the loss of their leader. Willsaam was seemingly not as affected by the loss as much as the others, even becoming slightly irritated by the constant grief that her friends displayed. The former apprentice believed that the loss of her master would be the perfect opportunity to increase her own power base, trying to succeed her master in keeping the Wrath's influence intact.
She ended up gaining a rival, and this person tried to take over the dark center that she tried so hard to secure.
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