Melas (Sarkan)

Melas was a male Sarkan who was exiled from his homeworld of Sarka for his gregarious and social ways. However, he absconded with a considerable fortune in smuggled metals and gems, allowing him to travel from world to world, seeing different sights and meeting all sorts of interesting beings. Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, Melas was a patron at Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina on the planet Tatooine.

Biography
A male Sarkan from the planet Sarka, Melas was born with physical deformities that led to a loss of status for him and his family. He spent his youth as an outcast, though his appearance was not his greatest crime in the eyes of his fellow Sarkans. Melas' people typically despised off-worlders, viewing non-Sarkans as primitives and savages. He, however, actually enjoyed the company of aliens and Humans and eschewed the formal greeting protocols mandated by his government. Melas' gregarious and social ways were an outrage and he was exiled from Sarka.

However, exile did not pose much of a problem for Melas: Sarka was rich in precious metals and gems and he was able to smuggle a considerable fortune off-planet when he was forced to leave. He used his riches to travel from world to world, seeing different sights and meeting all sorts of interesting beings, wanting nothing more than to see as many different species as possible. Around the year 1 BBY, Melas was featured in a Star Tours advertisement for the planet Tatooine as a patron at Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina in Mos Eisley spaceport. In 0 BBY, the thirsty Sarkan barfly was present in the cantina shortly before the Battle of Yavin.

Personality and traits
To the protocol-bound Sarkans, Melas was always a troublemaker for displaying curiosity in other aliens and his gregarious and social ways. Despite his wealth, Melas was not entirely unaffected by his status as a Sarkan expatriate. He missed his homeworld on occasion and often spoke of its lush jungles, jewel-encrusted mountains, and beautiful cave-cities with a melancholy eloquence that belied his normally optimistic nature. However, Melas' insatiable curiosity for what was out there easily eclipsed his bouts of melancholy.

A broad-snouted, gray-skinned Sarkan, Melas was born with physical deformities: standing at 1.7 meters in height, he was unusually diminutive in stature. He also had short, stubby claws and unusual, vibrant blue eyes that invited unwanted attention.

Equipment
Melas wore red and tan robes, along with a red turban. During his travels, he developed a fondness for smoking an Esoomian gruu pipe to heighten his awareness, and only rarely was he seen without the sweet-smelling device clasped in his scaly palms. Melas also carried a hold-out blaster and a credit voucher with 220,000 credits. He had numerous financial accounts totaling 2 million credits.

Behind the scenes
Melas was originally created for the 1997 Special Edition re-release of the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. He was first identified in Star Wars Trilogy Sourcebook, Special Edition, a 1997 Star Wars Legends sourcebook for Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. His puppet was a redressing of the one used for the Pacithhip prospector Ketwol. By covering Ketwol's trunk and tusks with a turban and using the back of Ketwol's head as Melas' face, a new creature was made. He was shot and edited into the cantina footage, replacing Arleil Schous, whose off-the-shelf canine mask had long bothered A New Hope writer and director George Lucas.

Appearances

 * Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
 * Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope