Eeth Koth was a Zabrak Jedi Master and one of the last to serve on the Jedi Council of the Old Republic. Koth's Force-sensitivity was not discovered as an infant making the Jedi Temple the only home he knew. Rather, the Zabrak was born in the slums of Nar Shadda where he lived as an orphan until he was four years old. When he was finally discovered by the Jedi, he was taken before the Jedi Council where he was deemed too old to begin training. However, the council was impressed by his mental discipline, and, in a rare decision, allowed Koth to begin training. As a Padawan, Eeth Koth demonstrated remarkable threshold for pain and an intense willpower, qualities common to his species. Koth's Master honed these abilities, known as Crucitorn, and Eeth Koth eventually became one of the strongest Jedi Masters of the Order. As a Master, he was invited to sit on the Jedi Council, one of the highest honors a Jedi Master could receive.

As a Jedi, Eeth Koth took as his Padawan another well-known Jedi, that of Sharad Hett. Together, the pair almost became as famous as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker would decades later during the Clone Wars. Koth and Hett undertook many missions that thrust them to the front lines of war. Despite the Jedi Order's rules on attachment, Master Koth allowed Sharad Hett to stay in touch with his family and visit them on occasion. However, years before the Battle of Naboo, Sharad Hett returned home to find that his family had been killed. Upon learning this, Hett left the Jedi Order and disappeared.

Fifteen years later, rumors emerged of a Tusken Jedi marauding throughout the wastelands of Tatooine. Through the Jedi's investigations, it was revealed that the Tusken Jedi was none other than Sharad Hett, Koth's former apprentice. Master Koth had preferred to be the one selected to travel to Tatooine to confront Hett, but the Jedi Council felt Koth's relationship with Hett would compromise his duty should Hett prove dangerous. In his stead, they sent Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi. While Master Ki returned with the news of Hett's death, he also returned with Sharad's son, A'Sharad Hett.