Tikkes/Legends

"How long will those decisions take? It's taken two years just to table the vote. By the time we determine which sector and planetary forces will contribute to the military, there may not be any systems left in the Republic. If Palpatine thinks this issue will go away with this vote, he's more naïve than I thought."

- Senator Tikkes, on Military Creation Act

Tikkes was a male Quarren politician, serving as the Senator of the Mon Calamari star system in the Senate of the Republic until he withdrew the planets he represented from the Republic and pledged his allegiance to the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Separatist Crisis. His position led to a bloody civil war on his homeworld Dac and his eventual ouster from power. As a leading member of the Separatist Council, Tikkes and his fellow Councilors led the Confederacy to war in a conflict known as the Clone Wars. Following three years of bloody conflict with the Republic, Tikkes and the rest of the Council were assassinated by Darth Vader on the planet Mustafar.

Corruption in the Senate
A male Quarren from the planet Dac, Tikkes was a profitable businessman who eventually found he could earn greater wealth representing the Calamari system. Eventually after using other's profits to fund his campaign, Tikkes was appointed as Senator and traveled to Coruscant to represent his people as a member of the Galactic Republic Senate. During the last term of Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum, Tikkes, a member of the Rim faction, was one of the senators who supported the Chancellor's sanctions against the Yinchorri. Before the Eriadu Trade Summit, Tikkes was one of the supporters of the Trade Federation, mostly because he profited from inside deals.

In 33 BBY, Tikkes, along with Senators Mot-Not Rab of Tarnab and Onaconda Farr of Rodia, attended to an unofficial audience organized by Senator Orn Free Taa of Ryloth. At that point, Chancellor Valorum had just ended a crisis and was suddenly accused of corruption. Taa admitted to having delayed the accusation because the situation at that point would allow the Senate to oust and replace Valorum, which was Taa's goal. Tikkes was an opponent of Valorum and approved the idea. When Taa offered to sponsor the candidature of Palpatine as chancellor and Mas Amedda as vice-chancellor, however, Tikkes saw potential problems: Amedda was said to have links with the Trade Federation and Palpatine was not easily manipulable &mdash; but Taa convinced him that those were not problems, but opportunities.

Hunted by Aurra Sing
During a travel to the lush jungle world of Cophrigin V, Tikkes encountered a stranded escape pod. Tikkes was unaware that the pod belonged to Jedi Masters Adi Gallia, Ki-Adi-Mundi, and Padawan A'Sharad Hett. The Jedi’s ship had been destroyed by the bounty hunter Aurra Sing. Tikkes was unaware that the hunter was also hired to kill him by former business rivals of his. Tikkes's Mon Calamari ceremonial ship deployed its octopus-like mechanical tentacles and reeled in the escape pod into the hangar of the ship.

The Quarren Senator arrived on the hangar deck to see who the passengers of the pod were. Tikkes was informed by one of his staff that the people were Jedi, but the Senator considered them nothing more than magicians. His attitude changed quickly at the moment he learned that there were members of the Jedi Council among the rescued. Master Mundi questioned the Quarren about why he was so far away from Mon Calamari and Tikkes lied to the Jedi by hiding his true intentions under the false claim that he was doing investments for the good of the Republic. Having heard Tikkes’s explanation, the Jedi offered to be at his side during this venture until he returned safely home.

When Tikkes’s party arrived on Cophrigin V, the Senator immediately ordered his troops to clear the parameter so meson diagnostic scanners could be set up. Being as observant as he, Ki-Adi-Mundi noticed right away that the planet was rich on nutrients and minerals. Tikkes once again played innocent and told the Jedi that it had been just a lucky coincidence. While Tikkes’s men were in the middle of clearing a path through the jungle, they were lured and into one of Aurra Sing’s traps. The resulting explosion killed most of Tikkes’s forces off and left the Quarren Senator baffled by what had happened to his men. Ki-Adi-Mundi was quick to inform Tikkes that somebody had killed his men by planting mines.

At that very moment, the Dark Woman appeared, but was mistaken by one of the Quarren troops for the person that planted the mines and was shot in the shoulder. After the Dark Woman fell, Sing arrived on the scene and caused alarm in Tikkes. The Quarren ordered his men to protect him and kill the assassin. Adi Gallia advised Tikkes against such action, but the soldiers followed Tikkes’s commands and attacked the assassin, but to no avail. Their blaster bolts were deflected by Sing. After the Quarren soldiers failed, A’Sharad Hett was ordered by Master Mundi to get the Senator on his ship and guard him. Ki-Adi-Mundi and Adi Gallia then went off to the jungle to find Tikkes’s attacker and Master Kuro.

Meanwhile on the ship, Tikkes had begun pestering Hett to get him off the world. Tikkes tried to use his authority as a Senator to persuade the Padawan into doing what he said, but Hett opposed him and told the Quarren that they were stay until the Jedi Masters returned. After turning down Tikkes’s demands, Hett found out that Aurra Sing had managed to cut her way on the ship. While expressing his amazement at the abilities of the Dark Jedi, Tikkes witnessed how the Quarren next to him was shot from behind - one of them being his scientist Tracton who was dead on the floor with a hole in his head. Tikkes found himself at the bridge of the ship being stared down by Sing who was eager to kill the Senator and do a public service to the Republic. Tikkes then witnessed a thrilling duel between the Padawan and the Dark Jedi. The Quarren Senator used the duel as a distraction for Aurra Sing to run for his life and get off the ship.

Outside, Tikkes managed to warn the Jedi of Aurra being the ship, but Ki-Adi-Mundi grabbed the Senator by his clothing and demanded to know if A’Sharad was alright. Moments later, in front of Tikkes and the Jedi, laid the unconscious body of the assassin.

The Jedi started to congratulate themselves on surviving the ordeal, but Tikkes noticed that something was not right with the sky. Another meteor shower had begun. The Senator was confused, because he was informed by his science officer that such an event would not have happened until the next day. The group quickly got on the ship, but the ensuing chaos prevented the Jedi from capturing Aurra Sing. With the assassin defeated, Tikkes was fortunate enough to make it out alive and leave the planet.

Siding with the Separatists
"How is it security failed to notice their number one responsibility had left the premises? Who exactly failed to deactivate the diplomatic tags of Tikkes' vessel? Is this conspiracy or incompetence squared? Tikkes' actions are trial enough. Only the guilty flee." "Will the Senator from Ryloth cease from jumping to conclusions and think through the situation for once? After the death of Senator Moe, perhaps Tikkes feared for his life on Coruscant and sought safer ground."

- Orn Free Taa and Edcel Bar Gane

Continuing to serve in the Senate throughout the Separatist Crisis which plagued the body for over a decade, Tikkes was implicated as being involved in a slaving ring, along with fellow Senators Bufus Ritsomas, Danry Ledwellow, and Wuja Wojaine. His position was suspended and he was placed under house arrest during the investigation, but a week later, escaped in the disguise of a courier. The diplomacy tags of his vessel, the Krakana Current, were still active, gaining him a way off-world without mishap. Having fled Coruscant, he sought safety in the company of the Separatist leader Count Dooku and quickly pledged his allegiance to the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Garnering the support of the Quarren of Dac, Tikkes was given a seat on the growing Separatist Council, the financial and corporate leadership board of the Confederacy.

In 22 BBY, Tikkes was invited to a clandestine meeting on the planet Geonosis where he was to meet with Count Dooku, and other potential leaders of the Confederacy. Together with other corporate leaders and influential secessionist senators, they declared war on the Republic and amassed the Separatist Droid Army. In a secret war room deep in the Stalgasin hive, Tikkes and the rest of the Council directed troop movements as the Grand Army of the Republic laid siege to the planet. When Dooku declared the battle lost, Tikkes quickly fled the planet to regroup later.

When the Confederacy and the Republic declared war, the Clone Wars were seen to erupt across the galaxy. Tikkes traveled to Dac and appeared before the Mon Calamari Council, officially declaring that the Quarren were severing ties with the Mon Calamari.

The Quarren that rallied behind Tikkes formed the Quarren Isolation League. Tikkes sent battle droids and Quarren soldiers against cities of the Mon Calamari. His actions prompted the Republic to send forces to protect the Mon Calamari people that were loyal to it. These forces were led by Jedi Master Kit Fisto. These events thus resulted in a bloody civil war on the planet. After a long campaign and many lives lost on both sides, the Republic won the battle. On the losing end, Tikkes was forced to retreat from the planet, permanently exiled to follow the other Councilors around the galaxy in an effort to avoid capture under the protection of Supreme Commander Grievous.

Even with the League's defeat, Tikkes and the Quarren continued to be of monumental support to the separatist cause. Despite losing Dac, Tikkes along with other exiled Quarren, fled to Pammant/Legends and Minntooine where with help from both Commerce Guild/Legends and the Techno Union/Legends, established Free Dac Volunteers Engineering Corps/Legends and Pammant Docks/Legends. These companies developed and manufactured warships for the Confederate Navy throughout the war, including Providence-class carrier/destroyers which became the backbond of the Separatist fleet and the gargantuan Subjugator-class heavy cruiser, most notably the Malevolence/Legends.

As Dac remained aligned to the Republic, Tikkes was replaced by Loyalist Senator Tundra Dowmeia, a fellow Quarren who later represented the world jointly with Meena Tills.

In exile and with dwindling power, Tikkes joined the Council aboard General Grievous' flagship, the Invisible Hand, where the leadership of the Confederacy was sent to the sinkhole world Utapau to await further instructions. Following Dooku's death over Coruscant at one of the most tumultuous battles of the war, Tikkes was present with the other Councilors at the meeting during which Grievous ordered them to Mustafar, a mining planet on the Outer Rim, where they were promised safety. Not long after departing Utapau, Grievous was killed by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the Council took full control over the Confederacy.

As the Council arrived on Mustafar, they quickly settled into the dimly lit command center at the mountainside Klegger Corp mining facility. Tikkes and the other Confederacy leaders were pressed into work at the facility's command center, supervising strategy and battle plans from their remote sanctuary. During their stay, the Council received a communications from the mysterious Darth Sidious, the Confederacy's shadowy benefactor. Sidious promised that the war was over and that the Republic had crumbled under the Separatist's war machine.

Advising the Council to remain on the planet, Sidious assured them that he would send his apprentice, Darth Vader, to watch over them. Relieved by the news of victory, Tikkes and the others anxiously awaited for Vader's arrival and their eventual departure from the inhospitable world. Upon Vader's landing, the Council and its aides gathered in the facility's main command center to greet Vader, only to realize soon after he sealed off all of the exits to the facility that he was not there to protect them. Igniting his lightsaber, Vader savagely cut down the guards flanking the doorway before attacking the unarmed Councilors and their aides. Tikkes was swiftly cut down during the attack, signaling an end to the Confederacy of Independent Systems and the war.

Personality and traits
"XTS was very forthcoming during our search for the truth, and assisted us in every possible means. The tragic incident that occurred last year was the act of a single man, and not a volley launched between competitive rivals, as some of my slanderous colleagues surmised."

- Tikkes

A corrupt businessman and politician, Tikkes never hesitated in plotting the downfall of his opponents or feeding off of their profits through illegal means. Tikkes career was spotted by claims of corruption and eventually ended after evidence suffered that he was linked to a slave ring. Tikkes once gave Senator Palpatine of Naboo three large pearls from the seas of Mon Calamari, held in the cup-like ends of polished, fossilized trumpet weed. Palpatine kept them on display in his apartment suite in 500 Republica.

Behind the scenes
"It was actually an active decision by our little writing council to not use him in these episodes because we felt by not using him, we would be interfering less with continuity than if we used him in the story."

- Supervising Director Dave Filoni, on choosing to implement Nossor Ri instead of Tikkes in The Clone Wars: Season Four

In the rough draft of the Attack of the Clones script, Tikkes was named Tessek. As that was the version used by James Luceno for the Episode II references he put into Cloak of Deception, the Tessek that appears in that book has since been retconned as Tikkes. During production of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, the same costume was used for both Tikkes and the Republic Senator Tundra Dowmeia, leading to mild confusion among viewers.

Leland Chee has said that Tikkes did not go to Mustafar to die with the rest of the Council, and that he might have died during the events of the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series. However, Chee was not aware at the time that Tikkes makes an appearance in Labyrinth of Evil, so he did not die in the series.

Tikkes and Rogwa Wodrata are the only Separatist Council members to not have action figures made in their likenesses. His name is consistently misspelled as "Tikkas" in the The Clone Wars Campaign Guide.

During production of the episodes from the Mon Calamari arc of The Clone Wars: Season Four, concept art of Representative Tikkes was created but never used to feature the character due to continuity problems. The concept art of a Tikkes underwater model is featured in the Trivia slideshow in the episode guide for the episode Prisoners.

On the 30th of May 2012, Supervising Director Dave Filoni posted an update about Tikkes on his official Facebook page. This post was in response to a fan question in a chat on EW.com during the Season Four finale episode "Revenge." The post details why Tikkes did not fit and was removed from the final scripts for the Mon Calamari arc of episodes.

In March of 2014, Dave Filoni posted an entry on the Official Star Wars Blog that was meant to show gratitude to the fans for supporting the TV series. The entry featured sketches by Dave Filoni himself that were meant for the unproduced Season Seven of the show and were drawn during one of the last Clone Wars writer’s conferences. One of the drawings featured several of the show's heroes meeting with a group of Quarren on an unknown city. The city itself was above water. Dave Filoni wrote a caption "Meeting with Tikkes on Quarren City" under the sketch. This points to the assumption that Tikkes was meant to appear in a future episode of the series, but that never happened due to the show being cancelled.

Appearances

 * Darth Plagueis
 * Jedi Council: Acts of War 4
 * Cloak of Deception
 * Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars: Republic 29: The Hunt for Aurra Sing, Part 2
 * Star Wars: Republic 30: The Hunt for Aurra Sing, Part 3
 * Star Wars: Republic 31: The Hunt for Aurra Sing, Part 4
 * Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones novel
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars PhotoComic
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones novel
 * Star Wars: Clone Wars PhotoComic
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith