Kitster Chanchani Banai

Kitster Banai was a Human slave on Tatooine, and a childhood friend of Anakin Skywalker. After not seeing his smuggler father, Rakir Banai, in many years, Kitster gave up hopes of becoming rescued from Tatooine and instead hoped to one day being a majordomo for a wealthy Mos Espan estate.

Childhood


A short time before the 32 BBY Boonta Eve, the young Kitster with Anakin Skywalker and their friends narrowly avoided disaster upon hearing of children who had been captured and imprisoned by Sebulba. The Dug intended to sell the captives, including Princess Arawynne, to Gardulla the Elder. The children disguised themselves as Jawas, sneaked into Gardulla's estate and freed the Ghostling children.

Kitster was the best friend of Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine, but he was also a slave. During the podrace on Boonta Eve, he was part of Anakin's pit crew.

Before Anakin left to become a Jedi, he left Kitster some of his prize credits. With it, Kitster bought Par Ontham's Guide to Etiquette, a book that Kitster memorized to secure a job at the Three Moon Mansion, run by Rarta Dal. With that job, Kitster earned enough to buy his own freedom by the time he had grown up.

Adult life
It was said that when Kitster grew up years later during the Clone Wars, he became a smuggler and disappeared at one of his runs. He was seen at Mos Espa again in 1 ABY and seemed to be looking for Anakin's old podracing helmet. Sadly, he may or may not have been aware that his best friend fell to the dark side and became the dreaded Darth Vader.



Kitster, having tried to improve the lives of a group of slaves, ended up offending their owner, Drik Bandrik who framed him by manipulating a tribe of violent Jawas into believing the Kitster had stolen a droid from them. Luckily for Kitster, a benevolent traveler agreed to help Kitster and agreed to assassinate their chief. As a reward, Kitster gave the traveler Anakin's podracing helmet. But Kitster's problems were not over yet. He had gotten himself into trouble with criminals Deeng and Sont Toipo both of whom were out to kill Kitster. Grasping the opportunity, he hired the traveler to assassinate them before they could get to him. He also had the traveler contact Krin Vel who Kitster suspected was part of a plot to frame him.

Eventually, Kitster married a local Kuati woman named Ulda, who maintained the old Podracing Arena, eventually turning it into a swoop bike arena. However, Kitster quickly fell in love with the arena's bartender, Tamora Spice. Kitster left Ulda and married Tamora, and together they had two kids, Ji and Elly.

With Tamora by his side, Kitster soon accomplished his ultimate goal in life by becoming the majordomo at the Rendala Estate in Mos Espa. However, by 8 ABY the estate had foreclosed, leaving Kitster unemployed. Times became so hard that Kitster took to auctioning off personal objects, such as a holocube of his old friend Anakin Skywalker after winning the Boonta Eve Classic. The holocube was sold to a Gotal collector for thirteen hundred credits at the same auction as the famous painting, Killik Twilight, which held Rebel codes in it.

In 8.5 ABY he met Leia and Han Solo at the same auction. When Killik Twilight was threatened with destruction, Kitster acted fast, stealing the painting and using his old friend Wald's swoop bike to escape into the deserts from pursuing stormtroopers. When a huge sandstorm struck, Kitster took shelter in a Jawa Sandcrawler that eventually was attacked by Tusken Raiders. The Sand People kidnapped Kitster and the painting and brought them back to the Valley of the Spirits, where they planned on sacrificing him to the "angry ghost" that had slain an entire tribe with a "glowing, humming sword." The Tuskens began to torture Kitster as part of the sacrifice by breaking his fingers for every time the moss painting needed to be watered. Fortunately, within a few days, Han and Leia found and rescued him and the painting. Before parting, Kitster explained his beliefs that Anakin must have always regretted his vengeful attack on the Tuskens, even after becoming the feared Darth Vader, which eventually brought Leia to conclude that she should forgive her father.

Behind the scenes

 * Kitster Banai was portrayed by Dhruv Chanchani in The Phantom Menace.

Appearances

 * The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * Anakin's Fate
 * Episode I Adventures 5: The Ghostling Children
 * Episode I Adventures 6: The Hunt for Anakin Skywalker
 * Episode I Adventures 8: Trouble on Tatooine
 * Episode I: Anakin Skywalker
 * Episode I: The Phantom Menace ½
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace novel
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace comic
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace junior novel
 * Episode I: Queen Amidala
 * Episode I: Qui-Gon Jinn
 * Jedi Quest: The Dangerous Games
 * Star Wars Galaxies
 * Thank the Maker!
 * Tatooine Ghost