Haydel Goravvus

"It's ironic. I wanted a title&mdash;now it's all I've got left. 'Goravvus, Senator of a few blocks of the Lower City.'"

- Haydel Goravvus

Haydel Goravvus was a male Human/Hamadryas hybrid who represented the Taris sector in the Galactic Senate and played a crucial part in the Taris Resistance during the Mandalorian Wars. He was the first senator from the ecumenopolis Taris, and was placed into office in 3,966 BBY by the efforts of Lhosan Industries chairman Jervo Thalien, as a means of ensuring protection of Taris' resource worlds.

Early life and career
A son of a Human businessman and a Hamadryas serving girl, Goravvus spends his youth in the Lhosan Industries swoop bike factory in Machineville. At a young age he brought himself under attention of corporate management by helping break a strike during the labor action, which established his ties with the company for years to come. The next 30 years he spend traveling the galaxy and settling various problems of Lhosan Industries, mostly using illegal or semi-legal ways. In 3,966 BBY he helped the Lhosan Industries chairman Jervo Thalien to use bribery to ensure Taris's admission into the Galactic Republic.

For his role in the activities of Lhosan Industries helped Goravvus receive the seat of Taris Sector in the Galactic Senate. Many in the xenophobic Upper City of Taris were more than unhappy to have a mixed-species Senator, but Goravvus enjoyed his victory and didn't pay much attention to them. Sometime during the course of the next two years Goravvus became a family man.

The Mandalorian Wars
By 3,964 BBY, Goravvus faced a losing battle in trying to convince business interests such as Lhosan Industries to remain on Taris despite widespread crime in the Lower City which threatened to spread upward. He was involved in negotiating tax breaks with Jervo, but expressed hope that the Jedi and Constable Noana Sowrs would take major steps toward eliminating the crimewave. However, he went missing during the massive rioting that befell Taris in the weeks following Zayne Carrick's second escape from the Jedi Tower.

He had, in fact, gone to meet with Thalien in hopes of convincing him to return to Taris. When Thalien refused, Goravvus threatened to reveal the shady dealings his company had had with the senator. Before he could follow through on this, the Mandalorians attacked Taris. The senator returned to Taris and met up with the Taris Resistance. While negotiating an alliance with the Hidden Beks gang, he was tracked down by Zayne and Marn Hierogryph, who had been hired by Thalien to find him. Unknown to them, Thalien had placed a bounty on his old friend, and had Gryph unwittingly smuggle a powerful bomb into the the Resistance base, in hopes of silencing the senator before he could make his accusations. The bomb proved to be a dud due to Shel Jelavin's failed attempt to kill Zayne Carrick, however, and Goravvus made Thalien an offer: use his company's resources to provide aid and supplies to the front lines.

Later, after discovering that Cassus Fett had set up a base in the city's Jedi Tower, Goravvus helped plan an attack that would blow the tower and hopefully take Fett with it. Fett's departure made the mission pointless, though, and the Resistance headquarters was ambushed by the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. After Taris ultimately fell to the Mandalorians, Goravvus managed to escape to the Republic space. There the exiled Senator became a popular figure espousing the cause of people living on occupied worlds and providing funds for private efforts to rescue refugees.

Personality and traits
Aside from Basic he could speak Ryl, High Galactic, Huttese, Gamorrese, Hamadryas, Ithorese and Kedorzhan languages.

Behind the scenes
"With Goravvus’ story, we begin to see some of why things on Taris in the comics are the way they are, despite what we’re told in the video game. From what we learn there, you’d assume no alien could ever make it to the upper echelon of Taris society, much less become Senator. Here, we see that the people of Taris were not necessarily the power on Taris."

- John Jackson Miller, on Goravvus' impact on the storyline

Haydel Goravvus was created by John Jackson Miller, the writer of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comic series. The character first appeared in the series' first issue, although he was not identified until the release of the trade paperback for the Commencement story arc. In The Taris Holofeed: Siege Edition, which appeared in the fifteenth issue, his name was spelled "Gorravus." Miller stated in his production notes for that issue that the spelling of the character's surname had not yet been decided upon.<ref? However, in The Taris Holofeed: Invasion Edition, the senator's surname was spelled as "Gorravus". Furthermore, his entry in 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia had the spelling of his name as "Gor-ravvus." Gorravvus was given the first name "Haydel" in his entry in the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, where his background was expanded because Miller needed a character to represent the Corporate Agent prestige class for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1: Commencement, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 6: Commencement, Part 6
 * The Taris Holofeed: Siege Edition
 * The Taris Holofeed: Invasion Edition
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 22: Knights of Suffering, Part 1
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 23: Knights of Suffering, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 46: Destroyer, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 48: Demon, Part 2