Raygar

"Ha ha ha ha! At last, the forest moon of Endor. Soon, I will have the Sunstar, and all the power that comes with it!"

- Dr. Raygar

Doctor Raygar was an ambitious Imperial scientist who worked directly for Emperor Palpatine. While his exact academic specialty is unclear, he showed some expertise in obscure primitive cultures, their languages and mystic artifacts, and weapons engineering. He was assisted by a group of security droids and a stolen pilot droid designated PD-28.

Attack
Doctor Raygar, a man involved with the Galactic Empire, sought to obtain the legendary Sunstar, an artifact that he believed was on the forest moon of Endor. He requested permission from Emperor Palpatine to launch an expedition to retrieve the Sunstar, and his request was subsequently granted. Admiral Kazz ferried Raygar to the Endor system in 3 ABY in his Imperial I-class Star Destroyer. Kazz was highly dubious of the mission's value, and had little but scorn for Raygar. The doctor was not deterred however, and assured the admiral that the Sunstar was quite real and very powerful.

Setting out with PD-28 and a detachment of large droids, Raygar landed on the moon, and laid a trap with which he hoped to catch a wandering Ewok. He then intended to interrogate the Ewok, and determine the location of Bright Tree Village, where the Sunstar was kept. His trap instead caught a fircle, but the creature's constant braying attracted the attention of the Ewoks Wicket W. Warrick, Princess Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka, Teebo, and Latara. In attempting to free the beast, Latara was sucked into the trap, prompting Teebo to use his Ewok magic to free her. In doing so, the Ewoks attracted the attention of one of Raygar's droids, who quickly seized Teeebo. At that moment, Raygar himself arrived, riding a floating weapons platform.

Wasting no time, the doctor attacked the princess with an incapacitating energy ray. Warrick reacted by attempting to attack the droids with a stick, but Raygar quickly shot the makeshift weapon out of the young Ewok's grasp. Moving in closer, he demanded that Warrick reveal to him Bright Tree's location, while threatening to destroy Kintaka and Teebo. Relenting, Warrick gave him directions, but the doctor did not take any chances, and ordered that the four Ewoks be incarcerated in his ship.

After landing his ship on the forest moon of Endor, Raygar trapped four young Ewoks&mdash;Wicket W. Warrick, Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka, Teebo, and Latara. Raygar forced them to reveal the location of the Sunstar, and imprisoned them on board his ship. He and his security droids attacked Bright Tree Village, and stole the Sunstar from the Ewok shaman Logray. He and his droids boarded their ship, and returned to Kazz's Star Destroyer to await the Emperor's arrival.

Vaulting ambition
Raygar did not, however, plan to turn the Sunstar's power over to Palpatine. Instead, he plotted to use the Sunstar's power to assassinate Palpatine and take control of the entire Galactic Empire. His initial plan was to use the Sunstar to power a laser cannon and destroy Palpatine's shuttle when the Emperor arrived to take the Sunstar.

In his haste, Raygar failed to notice that his pilot droid, his Ewok prisoners, and one of the auxiliary pods from his ship were missing. The four young Ewoks and PD-28 had escaped, stolen the pod, and (soon after Raygar's arrival on board) infiltrated Kazz's Star Destroyer. As he lay in wait for the Emperor, Teebo and Latara arrived in his laboratory to take the Sunstar back. He used the Sunstar to overpower them, and sealed them in a small capsule which he jettisoned into space as a test target for his laser cannon. Unfortunately for Raygar, Wicket, Kneesaa, and PD-28 burst into his laboratory soon afterwards, and took the Sunstar back. Worse, Raygar's laser cannon misfired in the struggle, damaging but not destroying Palpatine's shuttle.

After the Ewoks and PD-28 escaped, Raygar was arrested by Kazz's stormtroopers, and charged with high treason. Kazz had the scientist bodily dragged aboard Palpatine's shuttle, so the Emperor could punish Raygar personally.

Behind the scenes

 * In "Battle for the Sunstar", Raygar's species is never specifically established. While he does not appear to be a normal Human, this may only be due to artistic license on the part of the animators.


 * The Star Wars: Ewoks episode guide in Star Wars Insider 27 spells this character's name as Raegar. However, Leland Chee has confirmed that Raygar is the spelling in the Holocron continuity database.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Ewoks
 * "Battle for the Sunstar"