Pfilbee Jhorn

"The open skies of Endor, showing only primitive trees and dirty 'natural' beauty, are ripe for exploitation by anyone who can stomach this primeval world."

- Pfilbee Jhorn on the forest moon of Endor

Pfilbee Jhorn was a sergeant in the Imperial Navy who served as the records officer for Emperor Palpatine's second expedition to the forest moon of Endor. Unhappy with the superficial reports of the initial survey, the Emperor sent Jhorn and nine others to the moon in an attempt to learn more about it before the construction of the shield generator for the second Death Star. Jhorn had filed many memos stating he was unfit for the job, but they never reached their intended recipients, and he was sent on the trek regardless. This, coupled with his Humanocentric nature, made for a very bitter report.

The expedition, despite the lack of suitable equipment, proved a great success, with several new intelligent species being discovered, including the Teeks, Goraxes, Yuzzum and Sanyassans. This was, however, at the cost of six of the members' lives. After the expedition, Jhorn was assigned to several backwater worlds, eventually taking up the role of custodian in Fort Bestine on Tatooine. There, he was given the duty of exterminating the local vermin, a job which he detested. In 1 ABY, he met with a spacer, and had him perform several exterminating jobs.

Arrival
"The lush and wild environment provides resourceful victims the opportunity to eke out an existence, but I would envy no one the job of living under these primitive conditions. Give me Coruscant any day."

- Pfilbee Jhorn on the forest moon of Endor

Jhorn was a sergeant in the Imperial Navy during the Galactic Civil War, and several years before the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY, he was chosen to be the records officer for the Empire's second expedition to the forest moon of Endor, despite his lack of qualifications. The first expedition had been sent in order to learn about Endor, where Emperor Palpatine planned to build the shield generator for his second Death Star, though the Emperor was displeased with the initial survey and its extreme lack of detail. He commissioned a second team, led by Jhorn, to travel to Endor, though kept the purpose of their expedition from them. Jhorn, however, did not want a job studying what he saw as a primitive world, and sent several memos to the Empire insisting he was unsuitable and unqualified to carry out the work. The memos, however, were misfiled, and never reached the sergeant's superiors. This, coupled with his Humanocentrism, explained the bitterness of his report.

Although it was a relatively important excursion, the Empire left Jhorn and his team&mdash;made up of Pfilbee, three other Imperial Naval personnel and five escort stormtroopers&mdash;few resources, and from the start the mission was destined to be at the very least uncomfortable for the scouts. As Endor was extremely remote, the ships they traveled on had to perform several complex hyperspace maneuvers, though Jhorn was quick to display his authority, and began ordering around the captains of the Imperial ships they stayed on. One captain replied angrily to Jhorn's orders, though the Imperial sergeant left the captain's name and service number in his report, hoping someone would take disciplinary action against the man who questioned him.

They eventually arrived on Endor, though the equipment they were left with appalled Jhorn. The expeditionary team was tasked with traveling and reporting on the whole moon in four damaged two-seater All Terrain Scout Transports, while Jhorn commented that their food rations were likely leftovers from the Clone Wars of over a dozen years earlier. Despite being so poorly equipped, Jhorn and his team continued with their survey&mdash;the sergeant had sworn to duty, and was not one to disobey an order. Eventually, Jhorn's team got their AT-STs up and running, though he himself did no work, remarking that he was sent to Endor only to observe.

Survey
"Nothing the Ewoks invent would have a chance of even scratching our Imperial weaponry, though the contest (and resulting Ewok slaughter!) might be entertaining to watch."

- Pfilbee Jhorn hated all of the inhabitants of Endor, though he held a special hatred of Ewoks

The team began to journey through the forests of Endor, though their transports had difficultly navigating the undergrowth, and they had to stop and make repairs many times. Their repair kits were next to useless, so the squad had to use stones to bang things back into shape in several cases. Jhorn held an immediate dislike of the world and, despite their poor rations, did not bother to check if any of the game was edible, preferring to eat his tasteless military rations over stringy rodent meat. The first new life-form they encountered was the tempter, named as such due to its habit of hiding in hollow tree stumps and using its furry tongue as a decoy. The first injury to the team was caused by a tempter, who bit the hand of one the scouts, making him next to useless for Jhorn's purposes. They saw to their injured comrade, though not before killing and dissecting the creature responsible.

The next, and most prominent, species they encountered was the Ewoks, small furry beings who lived in great wooden villages built among the trees. Jhorn particularly despised the Ewoks, though one of his fellow scouts was fascinated by the species and their cultures, and wrote a detailed and praising report on them, which sickened the squad leader; Jhorn reprimanded the man severely for his "time wasting." Knowing it would be of some use to the Emperor, Jhorn included it in his report, though he altered it slightly to give it a far less positive view on the Ewoks. Jhorn found the Ewoks laughable and pathetic, and noted that it would be entertaining to watch a skirmish&mdash;and subsequent Ewok slaughter&mdash;between the furry creatures and the army of the Empire. Jhorn told Palpatine that he had nothing to fear from the Ewoks, and felt that their primitive weapons would barely scratch the armor of Imperial stormtroopers.

They eventually left the Ewok villages and continued traveling, though they met a species of creature that Jhorn detested even more than the Ewoks&mdash;Teeks, small rodent beings with the ability to run extremely quickly. The Teeks had a fondness of various shiny trinkets and tokens, which they stole from animal nests and Ewok villages, though Teeks always returned something that they felt was of similar value. They had a peculiar sense of value, however, and the owners of their stolen objects were usually left disgruntled. They raided Jhorn's camp one evening, replacing the Imperials' sophisticated scanners and tools with dried seedpots and polished beetle shells, to the Imperial sergeant's fury. Jhorn attempted to shoot one of the creatures for examination, though due to their immense speed, the Teeks were able to evade the shots, and fled.

Departure
"We left Endor with nothing more than our memories and my report. The final decision is up to the Emperor, of course, but I hope he chooses never to return to this unpleasant Forest Moon."

- Jhorn closes his report to the Emperor

The team continued their search, though their vehicles became less and less reliable, and when all four ceased functioning simultaneously, Jhorn ordered his team to leave them behind&mdash;they would continue their trek on foot. Sick of the forest, Jhorn traveled to the barren Yawari Cliffs, where they discovered another native of the moon, great beasts called condor dragons, who inhabited the caves of the cliff-face. Jhorn encountered one, though the squad's stormtroopers managed to stun it, and Jhorn included a detailed description of the animal's anatomy in his official report.

Another of the species missed by the initial survey was the Goraxes, huge behemoths who frequented the Desert of Salma. Predators, the Goraxes hunted Ewoks and other forest-dwellers, which greatly impressed Sergeant Jhorn. His feelings toward the creatures changed, however, when a Gorax captured their entire party during the night, taking them to its cave dwelling. Interested in the shiny white armor of the five Imperial stormtroopers, the Gorax killed each of its new "pets" attempting to break away this outer shell. Jhorn, as well as the three remaining party members, managed to escape from his cage in the catacombs and flee to the network of caverns on the cliff-side. As the few remaining team-members exited, they encountered a massive rearing spider, though it was in no mood to battle, and they escaped, putting great distance between themselves and the carnivorous beasts.

With no real protection, Jhorn decided to trek less deadly areas, and encountered several more previously unknown species, including the sentient Yuzzum, another furry species for whom Jhorn held a great dislike. The Yuzzum were unable to properly communicate with other species, so Jhorn and his men ignored them, and within days the herds of Yuzzum had stopped plaguing the Imperial sergeant. Eventually, with their expedition nearing a close, Jhorn and his men encountered the first life-forms that he could relate with&mdash;the uncouth Sanyassan marauders who resided in a massive castle situated in the center of a large plain. There were several hundred Sanyassans living on Endor; fierce warriors, Jhorn suggested a possible alliance between them and the Empire in his report. The team received a hostile welcome from the Sanyassans, led by King Terak, and one of their number was tortured to death in Terak's dungeons. Charal, a Dathomiri Nightsister who had been stranded on Endor with the Marauders, helped the team to escape, as long as they promised to take her with them. Terak soon learned of her treachery and imprisoned her, before sending his troops in pursuit of the team. Completely weaponless, the three remaining members eventually reached the Imperial retrieval ship, which scared away the Marauders by firing a few shots at them. With his report complete, Jhorn hoped never to have to return to the forest moon again.

Later life
"That's my life now, lining up pest control. One trip to the forest moon, and poof! Disaster."

- Pfilbee Jhorn to a spacer during the Galactic Civil War

Jhorn's report eventually reached Palpatine, and several years after the expedition, the Empire built a shield generator there for the second Death Star. It was unknown what sort of impact the report had on Palpatine's preparations, though the Imperial garrison on Endor paid little heed to the native wildlife &mdash;something Jhorn advised them to do.

However, after delivering the report, Jhorn's career went steeply downhill. Palpatine, though pleased with the thoroughness of Jhorn's report in comparison to its predecessor, did not overlook its bitter, resentful tone. Soon after leaving Endor for good, Jhorn was transferred to a lengthy term of manning the solar focusing mirrors in orbit around Coruscant, before being once again relocated to the planet Tatooine, where he served as a custodian in Fort Bestine. Jhorn hated the fact he had been demoted, and would vent his rage at it to anyone who would listen, though he made sure to ignore any Rebel Alliance sympathizers who stumbled upon the fort. In 1 ABY, an Imperial-aligned spacer visited the fort looking for work&mdash;Jhorn told him of his troubles, and eventually offered to pay the spacer handsomely in exchange for the removal of the womp rats which lived in and around the fort. The spacer performed well, and Jhorn paid him 2,000 credits. Impressed with how the spacer ridded him of the rats, Jhorn tasked the spacer with killing a pack of mynocks at their lair, which was several hundred meters away from the fort. The spacer once again exceeded the custodian's expectations, and was paid 3,000 credits by Pfilbee.

Jhorn then had the spacer take out several dragonets, which had been rooting in the trash compactors and annoying the garrison stationed at Fort Bestine. When the spacer returned, Jhorn transferred 4,000 credits to the being's account, thinking of the terror the dragonets might have caused if he let them loose in an Ewok village. The spacer had performed well, so Jhorn had him perform one final task. A group of dune lizards had killed an Imperial officer in the desert, and Jhorn was given the responsibility of having them exterminated. When the spacer returned successful, Jhorn had no money left to pay the being, but made do with a painting of Endor which he had kept since the expedition. Like practically every aspect of the forest moon, Jhorn hated the painting, and was glad to be rid of it.

The Empire's operations on Endor proved to be a debacle, with the Ewoks&mdash;which Jhorn, as well as the leading officers of the expedition sent before him, felt would stand no chance against the stormtroopers&mdash;aiding the Rebel Alliance on the surface, while the Millennium Falcon, piloted by Lando Calrissian, destroyed the Death Star in space. Jhorn's report was the only detailed analysis of Endor's inhabitants for some years even after the moon became well known; in 12 ABY, Professor Mankuskett of the University of Sanbra conducted another, more detailed study, discovering intelligent species such as the Phlogs, Duloks and Jindas, all of whom Jhorn and his underlings had missed.

Personality and traits


Pfilbee Jhorn was a bitter man, and resented the majority of his surroundings and superiors, at both the height of his career and during his lonely time in Fort Bestine. He complained at having to perform tasks during his stay on Endor, and left most of the work to his crew, yet during his later years on Tatooine he moaned about having nothing to do. Jhorn also made many sarcastic comments in his report on Endor&mdash;he hinted many times at the ineptitude of the Empire, and did not hide his anger at being kept out of the loop about the reasons behind the expedition.

Yet Jhorn was still fiercely loyal to the Empire, and despite feeling he did not hold sufficient qualifications, he performed his duty. Although the report was riddled with negative comments directed towards the Empire and how it operated, Jhorn put great work into it, and did his best to include a broad description of the moon, despite the difficulties of not knowing what purpose his superiors had with it. His efforts were not rewarded, however, and he was assigned with a series of unpleasant roles after the expedition.

Jhorn was extremely Humanocentric, and detested any form of alien species, particularly unintelligent creatures. He expressed his pleasure in the idea of Ewoks being massacred by Imperial stormtroopers, and wanted to let various breeds of carnivores loose on the tree dwellers. Most peaceful species sickened the Imperial man, though he was impressed by many of the moon's predators, including the Goraxes, condor dragons, and the stranded Sanyassan marauders. Jhorn cared little for any species' culture or way of living, preferring to dissect them and study their anatomy. Although Jhorn told everyone he hated his days on Endor, he was in truth nostalgic for them, and missed the planet during his service on Tatooine.

Behind the scenes
Pfilbee Jhorn was created by Star Wars author Kevin J. Anderson for The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, where he acted as the in-universe author of the Endor chapter. Jhorn later reappeared in Star Wars Galaxies, the Official Star Wars Fact File, The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, and Galactic Hunters, part of the Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game. He is also indirectly mentioned as the leader of the Endor expedition in the Star Wars Hyperspace article Castaways of Endor.

He is erroneously referred to as Phibee Jhorn several times in Star Wars Galaxies. Jhorn is the subject of a timing discrepancy surrounding the date of his expedition to Endor. In The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, he mentions that his AT-ST still had cold weather equipment from the raid on Hoth, which occurred in 3 ABY. However, his appearance in Star Wars Galaxies, set in 1 ABY, is meant to have happened after his expedition.