Huyang

"From the Battles of Rashfond, to the Peacekeeping of Parliock, to our very own Clone Wars, the lightsaber is a Jedi's only true ally. But how do they work? Hmm? Yes, you have brought me crystals, but they're all useless you give them life. Do you know how to awaken the Force within the crystal? No? Then I suggest you listen and learn, until you think of a question this droid cannot answer."

- Huyang, to a class of Jedi Initiates

Professor Huyang was a masculine-programmed architect droid who guided the Initiates of the Jedi Order in the construction of their lightsabers. Based aboard the Jedi training cruiser Crucible, Huyang began his service to the Order in its early days. His instruction would commence once a class of younglings had passed The Gathering on Ilum and collected their lightsaber crystals. Although criticized for being a droid despite his central role in Jedi training, he carried out his tasks with distinction, educating each new generation of Jedi and providing them with the needed components from his vast cache of supplies. He also maintained an archive of each and every lightsaber, and its owner, within his memory bank. By the time of the Clone Wars, thousands of generations of Jedi had passed through Huyang's tutelage and completed their lightsabers.

In 20 BBY, Huyang's instruction of one particular class of Initiates&mdash;Petro, Ganodi, Byph, Katooni, Zatt, and Gungi&mdash;took an unexpected turn when a gang of pirates attacked and boarded the Crucible. Although Huyang and his students repelled the brigands from the Crucible, the Initiates' chaperone, Padawan Ahsoka Tano, was captured. Huyang himself was almost completely dismembered in combat, though he received repairs thanks to Ganodi, Zatt, and the astromech droid R2-D2. While mounting an attempt to rescue Tano on the planet Florrum, Huyang and the younglings were drawn into an all-out invasion launched by General Grievous and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, though with the aid of Captain Hondo Ohnaka and his pirates, they evaded Grievous and safely returned to the Republic fleet.

Teacher of Jedi Initiates
"These are them? I swear, they get younger every expedition&hellip;"

- Huyang

An architect droid, Huyang&mdash;also Professor Huyang or Master Huyang, as he came to be known &mdash; served aboard the Jedi training vessel the Crucible. As the sole being assigned to the Crucible, Huyang maintained his own database of lightsaber designs and their designers, spanning the entire tenure of his considerable teaching career. It was aboard the Crucible that Huyang taught countless Jedi the means of constructing their own lightsabers in the last thousand years of their order. Sometime during this period, he assisted then-Initiate Yoda in the construction of his first lightsaber.

Training gone astray
"With this lightsaber, I'm going to challenge Obi-Wan Kenobi to a duel and kill Grievous!''" "The only person you are going to kill with that, my young friend, is yourself. You have inverted the emitter matrix, which will cause the power grid to backfire! Light this, and all that will be left of you and your lightsaber will be your crystal. Start again, and this time, please'' follow the diagram!"

- Petro and Huyang

During the Clone Wars, a group of Initiates consisting of Byph, Ganodi, Gungi, Katooni, Petro, and Zatt&mdash;having recently completed their Gathering trial&mdash;arrived on the Crucible to be instructed by Huyang in the construction of their lightsabers.

Some of the Intiates, Ganodi in particular, were skeptical of the droid due to his extreme age, but were quickly won over by his wisdom and anecdotes from the annals of Jedi history. Patiently, Huyang guided the Initiates in the construction and personalization of their respective blades.

Before the younglings could complete their task, Huyang's vessel was assaulted by Hondo Ohnaka and his pirate gang, who were intent on stealing any lightsaber crystals aboard due to their high market value. To safeguard the Initiates' unique crystals, Huyang gathered and stored them inside his chest. Unbeknownst to him at the time, however, Petro had surreptitiously palmed his crystal and handed Huyang a droid component.

Huyang, Padawan Tano, and the group of Initiates chose to hide in the ship's ventilation system when the pirates boarded the Crucible and began searching for their prize. In executing a plan of Tano's devising, Huyang had the misfortune to encounter the pirate leader and engaged him in combat. The droid professor proved little challenge to the Weequay pirate and soon found his head and two of his arms severed.

As Tano arrived and began to hold Ohnaka off, Huyang remotely controlled the remaining two limbs on his back of his torso to subdue several pirates. The tactic allowed sufficient stalling time for the Initiates to collect his body and take shelter in the Crucible's hold. Unfortunately for Tano, the plan to liberate the ship did not go exactly as planned, and she was captured by the pirates even as she drove them from the ship.

Misadventures on Florrum
"If I may, sir, I have instructed younglings for over a thousand generations, and these are among the best I have ever seen."

- Huyang, to Hondo Ohnaka

Still significantly damaged from his battle with Hondo Ohnaka, Huyang was able to offer little in the way of assistance when the group of Initiates decided to pursue the pirates back to their base on Florrum in order to rescue Padawan Tano. With the Crucible landed on the planet surface to effect repairs, Huyang remained aboard with Initiate Ganodi and fellow droid R2-D2, while the remaining Initiates set out to rescue Tano.

With the others gone, Ganodi began to repair Huyang, beginning with re-attaching his head to his body. He had only just completed this task when the other Initiates&mdash;having managed to rescue Tano from the pirates&mdash;made contact to ask for help in escaping their pirate pursuers.

Huyang, the young Rodian Initiate, and R2-D2 immediately launched the Crucible and flew to rescue their companions. The effort was a near-success, almost managing to secure the Jedi, until one of the pirates scored a blaster hit on one of the ship's engines, causing the ancient Jedi vessel to crash and the entire group to be recaptured by the pirates.

As the captors and captives began making their way back to the pirate outpost, they stumbled upon something unexpected: Separatist General Grievous and an army of battle droids had landed and claimed the system for the Confederacy.

Faced with no alternative, the pirates chose to release their Jedi captives in order to work together to rescue Ohnaka so that they could all escape the planet. The combined group achieved their goal without taking any casualties, and together escaped back to a Republic fleet commanded by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. Huyang was finally repaired once they found themselves back in friendly territory.

Features and equipment
"Many years I have been on this ship teaching many a Jedi before you, and I will continue teaching many a Jedi after you. Call me what you want, but inside my memory banks I contain a record of every lightsaber ever made, and the Jedi who fashioned it."

- Huyang, to Ganodi

Huyang was many millennia old during the Clone Wars, having instructed Jedi in their training for over a thousand generations. Befitting his age, Huyang had developed a personality possessed of great knowledge and wisdom, paired with quirks such as a dry sense of humour and indignant responses when his usefulness was questioned due to his age.

Personality
"It's not finished. I never finished it. I've done everything right, but it won't work!''" "You must trust that the components that form your lightsaber are meant to be together. There is no other way. It is the Force'' that binds them."

- Katooni is guided by Huyang in assembling her lightsaber

Combat capacity
"How dare you? I've lived on this ship a thousand years and never lost a fight. I'm not about to start today!"

- A decapitated Huyang, to an offending Weequay pirate

Behind the scenes
Huyang was voiced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars by actor David Tennant, best known as the Tenth Doctor in long-running science-fiction series Doctor Who. He won an Emmy for his portrayal of Huyang.