The High Priestess

"The samurai is our mortal enemy. He must die at any cost."

- High Priestess to Ashi.

The High Priestess (real name unknown) was the birth mother of the Daughters of Aku, as well as the leader of the all-female Cult of Aku. She served as the secondary antagonist of Season 5. She was eventually killed by Ashi, one of her daughters while attempting to kill Samurai Jack herself.

Appearance
Her true appearance is unknown, but a silhouette of her was shown when she was giving birth to her seven daughters. She was briefly seen from the back as she is being dressed in her outfit, and it is seen that she is slim and has long black hair. Like other members of the cult, she wore a black robe, white mask, and a head covering with horns resembling Aku's, except her head covering had six horns instead of four like the other members (possibly signifying her role as the leader of the cult). During the flashback when she drank Aku's essence, her facial profile is shown to heavily resemble Ashi and her sisters.

She was shown to be wearing some form of jumpsuit made from the same black, tar-like substance that the rest of her fellow cultists wore.

Personality
The Priestess had the personality of a typical, psychotic, merciless, fanatical cult leader, believing that the service of her master was the most important thing in the world. At some point, she acquired a magical "darkness" from the Pit of Hate and pushed all her daughters into it so that they may become one with the darkness of Aku to receive supernatural abilities.

The Priestess is rather mysterious, as it is currently unknown how she came to be so devoted to Aku, her past and the reasons her worldview is so distorted. It was later revealed that she drank from a ceremonial goblet that contained a portion of Aku's essence when he once appeared to the cult, allowing her to conceive human-demon hybrid septuplets. She was single-minded in her devotion, lacked any semblance of sympathy, seemed to be aristocratic, and possesses great self control. Immediately after giving birth, she is helped into her mask and robe and proceeds like nothing happened. Whereas most women would be too sick and exhausted to even sit up, she is capable of walking around and giving orders. She did not have any regard for life, as demonstrated by not caring about the deaths of any of her daughters or the other cult members. When her daughters finally completed their training, she immediately sent them to kill Jack without giving them time to celebrate or even rest. She crushed a ladybug in front of Ashi in order to demonstrate her view that life was meaningless unless it is in the service of Aku.

She repeatedly told her daughters that all that is good came from Aku, and that Jack was the reason that the world has problems. It's unknown whether she actually believes this or only said it to mislead them into his service.

The Priestess was more unfeeling than cruel. Her actions always had a purpose, and were never done for any sort of sadistic enjoyment. She didn't appear to love her daughters, or bond to the other cultists. The only feelings she had exhibited are those of love for Aku and hatred of Jack. However, she tried to psychologically manipulate Ashi by reminding her of her dead sisters, and is willing to pardon Ashi if she kills Jack while he is meditating and hands over her dagger, even though her past actions strongly suggest that she does not care for them, a sign of her manipulative personality. Moreover, she had no problem with killing her own daughter when Ashi betrays her cause.

Her obsession with killing Jack proves to be her ultimate downfall, as she let her guard down long enough for Ashi to impale her with her own arrow while attempting to kill Jack.

Biography
The High Priestess first appears in the first episode of season five, at the center of a ceremony being conducted by the Cult of Aku, an all-female cult of devout worshipers of Aku. There, she gave birth to seven girls and put them through years of hard and intense training to mold them into deadly, ninja-like assassins who would be able to track down and kill Samurai Jack, Aku's long-time nemesis. After training them, she gives them white female masks and weapons and sends them out into the world to kill Jack.



In Episode XCV, Ashi has a dream about her mother while unconscious, once again commanding her to kill Jack. Later, before she can finish off an exhausted Jack, Ashi remembers the time her mother squished a ladybug for "distracting" her from a sparring session.

In Episode XCVI, the High Priestess somehow makes contact with her (presumably) sole surviving daughter, Ashi, by transforming the Moon into her face. She orders Ashi to kill Jack in his sleep, but she refuses, informing her mother that Jack saved her life and she only wants to know the truth. Shocked, the High Priestess promptly tells Ashi that she has failed her.

In Episode XCVIII, after Ashi joins Samurai Jack, the High Priestess confronts the Samurai herself along with an army of orcs while he's distracted with meditating on a mountaintop in order to recover his lost sword. Ashi singlehandedly defeats all the soldiers, but the High Priestess manages to sneak to the top and fire arrows at the Samurai, only to be thwarted by Ashi. Enraged, the High Priestess battles her final child, accusing her of betraying her deceased sisters by letting the Samurai live. Ashi calls her out on this, claiming that she's the one ultimately responsible for what happened to her and the other six daughters by feeding them hateful lies about Samurai Jack, never giving them any other fate/choice, and then sending the seven of them out on what ultimately amounted to a suicide mission. After a fierce fight, the High Priestess eventually overpowered Ashi by dazing her with crumbling debris, and then made one final attempt to kill the Samurai; Ashi throws one of her arrows at her at the last second, impaling her through the back and out her stomach, causing her to plummet to her death.

In Episode C, it's revealed that she was somehow capable of conceiving Ashi and her sisters without the aid of a male partner when she consumed a portion of Aku's essence that he left when he personally visited the cult. This apparent action shocked even Aku himself, indicating that he never considered the effects that his essence would have on a human (or just the fact that a human would even consume his essence in the first place).

After Aku's destruction in the past at the hand of Jack in Episode CI, it can be assumed that the Cult of Aku never came into existence - it's unknown how Aku's destruction affected the existence of the members of the cult, including the High Priestess herself.

Appearances
Season Five
 * Episode XCII (first appearance)
 * Episode XCIV (mentioned)
 * Episode XCV (in a dream and then a flashback)
 * Episode XCVI (hallucination)
 * Episode XCVII (flashback)
 * Episode XCVIII (death)
 * Episode C (flashback)

Abilities

 * Enhanced Endurance: The High Priestess gave birth to septuplets with little difficulty. After doing so, she was able to get back on her feet immediately without any signs of fatigue. There is some suspicion that part of it may have been due to drinking Aku's essence.
 * Enhanced Agility: The High Priestess is able to jump on the top of a rock formation with such nimbleness without losing her balance.
 * Skilled Assassin: She proved that she could train her daughters to be top-notched assassins. She also did a good job in erasing any compassion or distractions they have that keeps them from their mission. She is shown to be skilled enough to fight against Ashi, managing to overwhelm her daughter multiple times.
 * Leadership Skills: She did lead the other cult members in overseeing the training of her daughters which turned them into Anti-Samurai Jack assassins.
 * Enhanced Archery: She is skilled enough to create a hail of arrows similar to the Three Blind Archers with only one bow.

Weapon

 * Dagger: She is shown using a dagger as her primary weapon.
 * Claws: She carries a pair of sharp claws as her secondary weapon.
 * Bow and arrow: She uses her bow and arrow to attempt to assassinate Jack.

Trivia

 * The High Priestess' death was symbolic as she was literally stabbed in the back by Ashi, which lead to her downfall (falling off the cliff).
 * In XCII, it was shown that the masks that the Daughters of Aku wear were pink because of the cave's lighting and white when they go outside. However, when the High Priestess finds Jack and Ashi in XCVIII, her mask is still pink.
 * When Ashi hallucinates her mother in the moon in XCVI, her mask was white then.
 * Since Aku was destroyed in the past, her daughters would have never been born and she wouldn't have been killed. But how it affected her own existence is unknown.
 * Her real face is never revealed, but judging from her silhouettes and the fact that Ashi and her sisters don't resemble Aku, it can be assumed that the High Priestess looks like her seven daughters (albeit taller in height with longer hair).
 * Despite being mortal enemies with Jack for years both characters are never seen face to face at all in the fifth season.
 * The alchemist Cray from the animated series The Pirates of Dark Water is similar to the High Priestess based on the fact that they both consumed a portion of the essence of the Ultimate Evil in their stories, but for different reasons/factors.
 * Unlike the High Priestess though, Cray didn't survive for very long after ingesting the essence.

Quotes

 * "Seven daughters to do your bidding, Master. They will succeed where so many others have failed. "
 * "Bask in the glory of what our master has created, admire its beauty. But know that the Samurai is out there, leaving a wake of devastation wherever he goes. That's why, my sweet Ashi, the Daughters of Aku must stay focused. Never relent, always attack."
 * "Teach this one a lesson!!"
 * "The weak have no place with Aku."
 * "Are you weak!? Are you weak!!? Are you weak!!!?"
 * "Yes. Aku's fire stirs inside all of you."
 * "Your training is complete. Go! Kill!"
 * "You are seven, but now you wear the face of one. One purpose for which you were born... To kill the Samurai!!"
 * "Ashi, Ashi. Kill the Samurai!!!"
 * "Ashi. These frivolous distractions are poisonous for your mission. They are not part of Aku's order."
 * "Ashi, what are you doing?"
 * "The Samurai sleeps. Kill him in his slumber before he wakes."
 * "How dare you? You know he is deceitful! He will do everything in his power to defy the master!"
 * "You were always the weak one, distracted, unfocused. May Aku punish you for your sins!"
 * "You have failed us."
 * "Aku, our lord and master is one with the darkness. He was born from it. It fills him with infinite power. We, too, must become one with it. We are forever grateful and ever in your service."
 * "I knew you would fail us. You were the strongest, but the most unfocused. Always distracted, questioning everything. But all that can change. You can still honor our Lord Father. Destroy the Samurai, Ashi."
 * "Then you too will die."
 * "How could you betray your family? He killed your sisters! And you let him live!"
 * "The Samurai is our mortal enemy. He must die at any cost." Her last words before she falls off the cliff by Ashi