Gwellib Ap-Llewff

"You are an extension of my will."

- Darth Vader, to Gwellib and the other Inquisitors

Gwellib Ap-Llewff was an Imperial Inquisitor and Dark Side Adept during the Galactic Civil War. Originally a Jedi, he was not selected to become a Padawan, instead joining the Agricultural Corps. He was part of a group of AgriCorps members and other Force-sensitives captured and kept in captivity on Byss shortly after the Clone Wars, but was freed when Darth Vader selected him and three others to become his first Inquisitors. Gwellib was taken to Coruscant with the others and was taught the art of lightsaber combat and other dark side abilities by Lord Vader, though he was often bested by another trainee, Antinnis Tremayne. In 19 BBY, Gwellib and his fellow Inquisitors failed to capture fugitive Jedi Padawan "Jodd Sonta," though they did not report their failure to Vader.

Eventually, Gwellib returned to Byss to serve as one of Emperor Palpatine's Dark Side Adepts, and was stationed alongside Savuud Thimram at the entrance to the Emperor's Citadel. He was still on Byss with the Reborn Emperor in 10 ABY; he and Thimram taunted Luke Skywalker as he attempted to gain an audience with Palpatine.

Inquisitor
"This is a private transport. We were just exiting.''" "''I'm afraid we can't let you do that, young lady."

- Ekria and Gwellib Ap-Llewff

A Force-sensitive Humanoid male with a short, snout-like nose, Gwellib Ap-Llewff was a member of the Jedi Order. However, he was a failure, and wasn't selected to become a Padawan learner; instead, he joined the ranks of the Agricultural Corps. He was one of over a hundred Force-sensitives&mdash;made up of former AgriCorps members and others kidnapped over a duration of several years&mdash;kept on the planet Byss by Darth Sidious and his aide, Sly Moore, during the Clone Wars. They were slowly turned to the dark side of the Force, and made absolutely loyal to Sidious. When the Sith Lord's public persona, Palpatine, dissolved the Galactic Republic and created the first Galactic Empire in 19 BBY, he told his apprentice, Darth Vader, to select several of the recruits to become "extensions of his will." Vader arrived in the hall where Gwellib and the other recruits were training and began to mock those of them who had desired to become Jedi. He Force choked several of the students, though Gwellib and three others&mdash;Tremayne, Halmere, and Lanu Pasiq&mdash;were able to fend him off. Using crude sticks, they attacked Vader and managed to keep the Dark Lord at bay. Impressed, Vader took the four to become his dark side agents.

The four darksiders were inducted into a new organization, the Inquisitorius, which reported directly to Vader and the Emperor. The Inquisitorius was tasked with destroying what was left of the Old Republic, including the few Jedi who had survived Order 66. They were taken to Coruscant with Vader to speak to a gathering of members of the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order Sub-Adult Group. Gwellib and Lanu Pasiq looked on as Tremayne made his speech, praising Vader and the Empire. After the speech, Vader took his four Inquisitors to watch them duel each other with lightsabers and begin their training. During the fight, Tremayne was able to incapacitate Pasiq and Halmere and take their lightsabers, leaving Gwellib and Tremayne to face off. Gwellib, not wishing to duel Tremayne's three weapons, surrendered, and Vader left them. Tremayne was sent to hunt down several rogue Jedi while the others continued their training, though Gwellib, Halmere, and Pasiq soon had to assist their fellow Inquisitor.

They forced entry into a ship on Coruscant where Tremayne had been bested by "Jodd Sonta," a fugitive Jedi. The three Inquisitors were met with Zonder, a Selonian Jedi, and several other of Sonta's affiliates. They ordered Sonta's allies to return to their cabins&mdash;bar Zonder, who they wanted to take back to Vader. The Inquisitors were not expecting an attack and were not armed with their lightsabers; Gwellib and his peers were attacked and defeated by the unarmed criminals, bound together, and left on the ship as the Jedi and their allies fled. Eventually, Gwellib was released and returned to an Imperial facility, but Tremayne, who had become the de facto leader of the four, strictly forbade them to tell Vader of their failure. While Tremayne and Lanu Pasiq were sent after "Jodd Sonta," Gwellib and Halmere were sent to hunt down the Jedi elsewhere in the galaxy.

Dark Side Adept
"Let it be his "free choice," if that's what he wants to believe&hellip;but he's walking to his doom!"

- Thimram, speaking of Luke Skywalker, to Gwellib

Eventually, however, Gwellib was transferred permanently to Byss to become one of the Emperor's Dark Side Adepts. These Adepts were hand picked by Palpatine because of their abilities and their loyalty, and they performed whatever tasks he required of them; Gwellib and another Dark Side Adept, Savuud Thimram, were often stationed at the entrance to Palpatine's Imperial Citadel. While serving on Byss, Gwellib took to wearing ceremonial dress from his native planet and carrying a jeweled walking stick, though he also carried his lightsaber with him at all times. Palpatine's minions, including Gwellib, used Byss's natural dark side connection to further their powers, and they fed off the life forces of the entire populace of the Core World.

After Palpatine's first death at the hands of Darth Vader&mdash;who had been turned against his Master by Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker&mdash;at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, the Emperor's spirit traveled to Byss to inhabit a cloned body. After several years, he and his loyal Imperials launched an attack on the New Republic, finally revealing the Emperor's revival. Luke Skywalker, now a self-proclaimed Jedi Master, decided that the only way to defeat the Reborn Emperor would be to travel to Byss and attempt to defeat the dark side from within. Gwellib and Thimram were waiting for him.

When Skywalker arrived at the Imperial Citadel in 10 ABY, Gwellib, Thimram, and several other Dark Side Adepts watched as the Jedi pushed aside the Citadel guards with ease; they found the altercation quite amusing. Thimram ordered his companion to keep a close eye on Skywalker as he advanced towards Palpatine's position, though they decided not to attack him and take him to Palpatine personally&mdash;it was all the same to them whether or not he went with an escort or of his own free will. Believing that Skywalker was walking towards his peril, Gwellib and his fellows mocked him with raucous laughter. However, Palpatine was eventually defeated, and Byss was left a smoking rubble after being attacked by the Galaxy Gun superweapon. The planet took all its inhabitants with it to the grave.

Personality and traits
Gwellib Ap-Llewff was extremely loyal to the Imperial cause and spent the majority of his life serving others&mdash;Vader, Tremayne, Palpatine, and Thimram among them. He rarely spoke, letting others direct and guide him. Although determined, Gwellib knew when to give up, and during his initial sparring lessons he surrendered rather than fight with Tremayne. Gwellib and Thimram both found Luke Skywalker's plight highly amusing, and they mocked and jeered him as he strode past them toward Palpatine.

Gwellib was a member of an unidentified humanoid species, with a large, protruding, snout-like nose, which continued to grow as he aged. Although he had quite a thin build as a youth, by 10 ABY Gwellib had grown in stature and was considerably taller than Thimram, a Human male. While he was an Inquisitor, Gwellib wore the traditional robes of the order, though when serving Palpatine on Byss he often carried a ceremonial, jewel-crusted walking stick and wore traditional ceremonial garb from his homeworld; many different species were represented in the Dark Side Adepts, and Byss was not mired with Humanocentrism as was Coruscant.

Powers and abilities
Gwellib Ap-Llewff was trained in the ways of the dark side of the Force by both Palpatine and Vader, leaving him with lightsaber combat abilities and myriad Force powers. However, Gwellib's talents with a lightsaber were less than those of Antinnis Tremayne, and he was defeated in a duel by the Human early in his Imperial career. Gwellib, Lanu Pasiq, and Halmere were also easily outmaneuvered by the Jedi Zonder and his allies in 19 BBY, when the Inquisitors opted to use blasters instead of their lightsabers. Later, while serving as the Emperor's Dark Side Adept, Ap-Llewff was able to use many Force abilities taught to him by Palpatine, though he always carried his lightsaber with him. He was able to use the Force to heal others, to sense attack, and to control other beings' minds, among other abilities.

Behind the scenes
Gwellib Ap-Llewff first appeared in the second issue of Tom Veitch's Dark Empire series, where he was illustrated by Cam Kennedy. He appeared only on one page and was not named, though Michael Allen Horne's Dark Empire Sourcebook provided him with his name and also listed Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game statistics. He was later reused by Paul Ens in his webstrip, Evasive Action: Recruitment, drawn by Tom Hodges, in 2005, though he was only identified to be Gwellib in Paul Ens's blog. In 2008 he received an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, which established that he was a member of the AgriCorps, as was implied by Evasive Action: Recruitment. His Encyclopedia entry was later republished on the StarWars.com Databank. Both entries misspell his surname as "Ap-Llewf."

His name may be based on the Welsh language; the affix "ap," meaning "son of," and the prominent digraphs ll and ff in his name indicate this.

Appearances

 * Evasive Action: Recruitment
 * Dark Empire 2: Devastator of Worlds