Beilert Valance/Legends

"Interesting. I seem to have a rival. Perhaps even a formidable one."

- Darth Vader

Beilert Valance (&mdash;0 ABY), also known as Valance the Hunter, was a former Imperial stormtrooper officer who later became a bounty hunter and found his path crossed first with that of the former Star-Hoppers of Aduba-3, then with that of Luke Skywalker and his droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, and finally with that of Darth Vader. He sacrificed himself on Centares to prevent Vader from learning the identity of Skywalker.

Early life
"But that's the past...I've destroyed that!"

- Beilert Valance

Much of what is known about Beilert Valance's backstory comes from Imperial service records discovered long after his death in the Boudolayz archives. They indicate that Valance was born on Shinbone, a mining world in Wild Space where one had to scratch hard to eke out a living. His parents died from the Hardan Plague when he was still a child, leaving him to fend for himself until he reached the age of enlistment for Imperial stormtrooper service (by this time, Imperial stormtroopers were chosen from recruits and conscripts as well as from cloned sources).

Imperial Stormtrooper service
After enlistment, Valance was sent to Sirpar, an Imperial heavy-gravity training center in Arkanis Sector (the heavy-gravity conditions undoubtedly were designed to accustom stormtroopers to extreme environments, making standard-gravity combat conditions seem simple in comparison). After performing superbly in training, he was assigned to Nembus Sector, a volatile part of the Outer Rim Territories. The legion to which his platoon was attached saw extensive action against both pirates and Rebels. He was promoted to sergeant major of his platoon for his actions during the pacification of Praadost II. Soon after, as the campaign died down, his legion was reassigned to the nearby Kwymar Sector.

The Kwymar Suppressions, as the Imperial campaigns against Rebel positions in this Outer Rim sector would be named, were the climax of Valance's stormtrooper career. The fighting was spread over Picutorion, Protazk, Doniphon, Kestos Minor and Telos IV. Of these engagements, it is the battle on Picutorion that fills Valance's service file. During the frantic Rebel evacuation from the planet, his squad (consisting of himself, twelve stormtroopers, two elite stormtroopers and two scout troopers) performed especially well in taking a dug-in Rebel position, preventing the Rebels (twelve men and two droids strong) from sending a distress signal through Imperial jamming.

As Picutorion calmed down, Sergeant Major Valance was transferred to nearby Doniphon, where his luck changed very much for the worse. Rebel starfighters strafed the Imperial artillery position he was manning with proton torpedoes, and one of them struck home practically on top of him. Incredibly, he survived the blast, but he was so badly wounded as to be considered as good as dead. The retreating Imperial forces left his ruined body at Anglebay Station on Telos IV, not expecting him to live. In fact, the medics saved him, but it had been a near thing and required the replacement of half his body with cybernetic parts. For the rest of his life, Valance bitterly wished he had died on the operating table.

Early career as a bounty hunter
When he was finally released from Anglebay, Valance felt lost. He could not proudly continue his Imperial service; his physical condition made that impossible. But he was a trained, skilled and ruthless fighter. Ultimately he decided to become a bounty hunter. His first jobs were small, but they quickly gained him notice. He began with a Sikurdian berserker pirate, Alabar Double Ax, chasing him from Sikurd to the Red Nebula. When he caught up with and captured Alabar, he claimed the pirate's ship as his own, renaming it Kill Switch, and he assembled a gang of ruthless mercenaries to serve as his crew. On Donadus in the Inner Rim, they routed the Chorran shipjackers that had threatened Bamula Sector. On Thraisai, they captured a slavers' ring. Valance's reputation as a hunter of the first rank was rapidly made.

Few people, if any, knew of his pre-hunting career, and still less knew of his secret life as a cyborg; he used a kind of artificial skin to cover much of his exposed mechanical parts. Many noticed that his hatred of droids and other mechanical constructs was far more severe than the common prejudice against droids that had been in evidence ever since the Clone Wars, but they knew not to ask why. That it was in fact a deep-seated hatred of his new half-mechanical nature was something they never caught on to. As such a weakness would have instantly killed his new career, Valance sought to hide all traces of his personal history.

His self-hatred was intensified once he saw a tape his men captured from a Rebel spy they later killed. An illegal duplicate of an Imperial transmission, it was a report concerning the rescue of a political prisoner, Leia Organa, from the first Death Star. It was not specific, but it said that one participant was Han Solo, a smuggler who already had a price on his head, and that another, an unidentified older man, held off Darth Vader himself during the rescue. But it was a third participant, an unidentified boy, who aroused Valance's ire, because it was reported that the boy's part in the rescue was done with the cooperation&mdash;even friendship&mdash;of two droids. A human willingly allying himself with mechanicals&mdash;with junk? The very thought repelled him.

The Destruction of Anglebay Station
In the weeks following the Battle of Yavin, Valance announced to his crew that they would be embarking on a new mission, paid for out of his own pocket. The job was simple: the complete destruction of Anglebay Station. The instructions were brutal even by the rough standards of his mercenaries. Nothing was to be left behind that could be salvaged, and not one being, staff or patient, was to be left alive. His crew was shocked and unable to understand why he would order the sacking of a politically-neutral medical station that offered care to anyone, even bounty hunters. But they feared their captain too much, sought his credits too much, to say anything that might set him off.

The Kill Switch soon pushed up the Hydian Way, bound for the Telos system. Once his gang breached the station, they engaged in an orgy of slaughter. The patients were shot where they lay; the droids rounded up and blasted en masse. Valance himself saw to the obliteration of the computer records, destroying his Anglebay personal medical files along with everyone else's. When Valance and his men finally lifted off from Telos IV, they left behind only a burned-out shell littered with charred organic corpses and melted droid frames, along with the last remnants of his despised past.

Beilert Valance vs. the Star-Hoppers
"Between my obsession and the crew's greed...we did this all for nothing!"

- Beilert Valance, to Jimm Doshun

From Telos IV to Aduba-3
Valance confronted Jimm Doshun, the "Starkiller Kid," on his homeworld of Aduba-3, mistakenly believing him to be the companion of Han Solo responsible for destroying the Death Star. Though Doshun had been a friend of Solo's, he was not Luke Skywalker, the battle station's true destroyer. Still, Doshun, joined by his friends from the former Star-Hoppers, the mercenary group that had once defaeated a pirate band from Aduba, routed Valance's crew and sent the bounty hunter off to begin his search anew.

The Destruction of Ultaar Outpost
Undaunted, Valance continued investigating leads alone. Eventually he came upon a Rebel information-retrieval team operating in the blossom-laden jungles of Ultaar. The Rebel team, one officer and four troopers, were surprised to see Valance charge into their hut and confront them, demanding information about the group of Rebels aiding Leia Organa, particularly a boy with two droids. They didn't have what he needed, but one of them made the mistake of trying to draw a sidearm. It was a fatal mistake; Valance shot him immediately, critically wounding him. The other three tried to flee into the jungle, but his gun hand proved faster than their feet. Leaving them where they fell, Valance returned to the hut to examine the Rebels' computer core, but he was only able to confirm that they really didn't know anything.

Valance left Ultaar in frustration. He had found nothing new to aid him in his search. What he had gained, however, was a new enemy. Just days after his raid, Darth Vader came upon the Rebel outpost to find the entire Rebel team wiped out. One Rebel soldier, the one Valance left wounded in the hut, was captured and administered enough drugs to talk. He told Vader that it had been the work of a cyborg calling himself Valance (evidently something happened during the raid to expose his true nature to the Rebels). Vader killed the Rebel and returned to his flagship with the knowledge that he now had a formidable rival in his own search for the Death Star's destroyer, acting for reasons he could not fathom.

Beilert Valance vs. Luke Skywalker
"Droids and humans don't behave like this...! They don't sacrifice themselves for one another!"

- Beilert Valance, to C-3PO

From Ultaar to Feriae Junction
Valance left Ultaar behind and started over. He had learned (possibly from the Ultaar computer banks) that in the interim, the Empire had blockaded the Yavin system in an attempt to trap the Rebels there. But Valance knew from personal experience how determined the Rebels could be; he was sure that they would try to run this blockade, no matter how complete it was, to keep the Yavin base supplied. They would need a supply transfer point. Tracing known Rebel supply lines, he narrowed the possibilities down to the run-down shadowport of Feriae Junction, located at an intersection between the Hydian Way and the Gordian Reach, the route that led to nearby Yavin. He set up operations there and waited, certain that, eventually, the boy and his droids would show up.

In Junction City he passed the time as best he could, picking up bounties where they showed themselves. When a certain Marko Tyne, a Zygerrian slaver wanted on Thesme for unlicensed slaving activities in nine systems, appeared in the Junction City cantina, Valance casually pulled his blaster and shot him. He was duly paid for his efforts. To amuse himself he indulged his hobby of blasting "junk," paying his local informant, the junk dealer Skinker, for salvaged or rebuilt droids simply so he could destroy them.

Enter Luke Skywalker
After five weeks, Valance was finally rewarded for his patience. Skinker sent word that a young man with a 3PO unit had appeared in Junction City: Luke Skywalker had come to Junction with his protocol droid C-3PO to find parts to repair their damaged friend, the astromech droid R2-D2. Valance first acted to protect his quarry from Imperial interference: knowing where the local Imperial spy was to be found, he jammed the spy's long-range transmitter, then killed the spy himself; if Darth Vader wanted to find the boy and his droids, he would find he had been beaten to the punch. He knew, of course, that killing Vader's spy also killed any chance of a monetary reward from the Empire, but there was still the reward of personal satisfaction to be had.

Skinker kept Skywalker and C-3PO occupied at his salvage yard long enough for Valance to get there. Sensing a trap, Skywalker shoved C-3PO into Skinker's office and dove in after, and then sent the droid out the back way while he tried to hold off the bounty hunter. Valance blasted his way in and confronted his mark. The boy proved a better fighter than he had initially assumed; he was agile, clever, and the fact that he wielded an old Jedi lightsaber seemed unbelievable. Skywalker used the blade to deflect one of Valance's blasts back at him, melting away the synthetic flesh that hid his mechanical parts. When Skywalker expressed shock, Valance was even more angered. A droid-lover, shocked by a cyborg? It would be a pleasure to remove this hypocrite from the galaxy. He slammed the Rebel to the floor, far from his saber, and prepared to fire...

But here Valance was dealt an even greater shock: Skywalker's droid, C-3PO, suddenly reappeared and placed himself in front of his master, willing to sacrifice himself to save Skywalker. The boy in turn, concerned for his droid's safety, tried to send him away. To Valance, this was insane; in his bitter experience, droids and humans didn't sacrifice themselves to save each other. "Certainly it's not widely accepted," the droid answered, "But perhaps if it were, even being a cyborg might be easier to bear." It awakened something in the bitter half-man that he had long thought dead: hope. Perhaps, he mused, a galaxy was possible where cyborgs like himself could exist without prejudice. He needed to ponder this. He left them, allowing C-3PO to pick up Skywalker's fallen lightsaber and carry him back to their ship, while he wandered the streets of Junction City, lost in thought.

A new quest
When Valance stopped his quest to find Skywalker at the very edge of fulfillment, he found that his entire view of life had lost its meaning. His hatred of droids had just been shown to be worthless, for a droid had proved itself the equal to any human in one of the very qualities that made one human: compassion. His former loyalties to the Empire were undermined, for that compassionate droid had sided with those who opposed the Empire. His experiences with the Rebels, that had cost him half his flesh, had found a new context, for the ferocity with which they had fought had been shown to be fueled by a belief in the very same better universe that the droid had suggested. Without realizing it, he had become a Rebel, in thought if not in fact.

It was this realization that gave Valance a new mission in life. The young droid-loving Rebel had already become a crucial player in the war against the Empire, and Valance knew that Darth Vader wanted to learn his identity as badly&mdash;if not worse&mdash;as he himself had. If a better universe were ever to come to pass, it would be through beings like Skywalker, so it had suddenly become crucial that Vader never succeed in finding him. Previously, Valance had kept what he knew about the boy from the Empire only for the sake of preserving his bounty for himself. Now, for the sake of that bright future, he had to keep knowledge of Skywalker's identity from reaching Vader at all costs.

Beilert Valance vs. Darth Vader
"That boy you're seeking...and his droid...held out hope of something better, Vader. A time, a life, when even someone like me might not be a freak."

- Beilert Valance, to Darth Vader

The pursuit of Tyler Lucian
Valance's new quest took him to Centares when he learned of the existence of one Tyler Lucian, a Rebel deserter who had been stationed at Yavin IV base before the Death Star had arrived. Certain that the battle station would annihilate the base, he had stolen a supply ship and fled, but apparently learned the identity of Skywalker afterward. This made him a much sought-after being, and indeed, at the same time that Valance had learned about him, and his location on Centares, Darth Vader had tortured the information out of a captured spy. So informed, Vader ordered his flagship to Centares at all possible speed. Lucian had suddenly become the prize in a tug-of-war between two powerful and determined rivals who had never met.

Valance reached Centares first and, through Lucian's supply contact in Old Town, found the fugitive hiding out in a ruined guest tower above the polluted and corrosive waters of Rubyflame Lake. Valance confronted him and drew his sidearm. One blast would silence this pitiful coward and protect Skywalker's identity (he had experienced a change of heart, but not methods; he was every bit as ruthless now as he always had been). But he would never get the chance to pull the trigger. Mere minutes after he himself had arrived, a TIE fighter suddenly appeared from out of the setting sun, screaming low over the lake and settling at the shoreline. It could only be Vader's fighter. Its arrival distracted Valance long enough for Lucian to run into the tower. Locked inside, Lucian was the only witness to the contest of weapons&mdash;and wills&mdash;between the bounty hunter and the Dark Lord of the Sith.

The last stand of Beilert Valance
Vader reached the walkway leading to the tower, and found Valance there waiting, his gun drawn, determined to prevent him from passing to get the name he wanted. When the first blows were felled, Valance proved able even against a Sith; his cybernetic weapons actually brought Vader to his knee&mdash;briefly. Valance's defiance intrigued Vader; he offered Valance a chance to relent, a chance to serve him. But the hunter was not interested in being a useful freak like Vader; the boy and his droid had held out hope for a better life. Foolish, maybe, but so was destroying the Death Star. Valance blasted a gap in the walkway. Vader ignited his lightsaber and leaped over the chasm. Valance had had his chance to walk away. Now, in the name of the bright future, he would stand.

The combat that ensued was fierce, but brief. It ended as did many engagements against the Sith Lord, with a swing of his bloodshine blade. Valance was critically wounded, and Vader turned from him, to attend to Lucian. But even now, Valance refused to give up. He gripped onto Vader's boot, holding him fast. Vader offered to save him if he would only quit; Valance refused. Vader tried to shake him loose; Valance held tightly. "Lunacy!" Vader argued. "Even if I quit now, left you and the cringing coward in the tower, nothing would change. Others in this galaxy will have the same information. If I don't acquire it today, I will tomorrow. And for what will you have sacrificed yourself?" But Valance, though weakened, was resolute: he would give himself up to buy time. "The boy you seek, the one with the droids, is good. And he's growing. Someday he'll be your equal, or your better. Any delay works in his favor, increases his chances." Vader then decided that there could be no more delay.

Vader prepared to swing his saber for the last time, but Valance rolled himself over the edge of the walkway, hauling Vader with him. Limp, heavy, Valance dangled above the corrosive waters, his weight pulling Vader toward the same toxic end. Vader desperately wielded his blade, slicing through the cybernetic hand clamped to his boot. With nothing left to save him, Beilert Valance at last plunged into blood-red Rubyflame Lake, its toxic waters cradling his body as it sank to the bottom. There, his flesh dissolved in minutes, his metal parts following hours later.

But Valance's last words had reached the ears of the riveted and terrified Tyler Lucian. He had been moved enough to find his courage again. He could not face the Death Star, but he could still serve the Rebel cause, in the only way left to him. Steeling himself, Lucian jumped from the high tower, following Valance into the fatal waters and securing, at least for the moment, the secret of Luke Skywalker's identity from Vader.

Behind the scenes
"Death and destruction are his tools! The Star Warriors are his targets!"

- Marvel Star Wars 16: The Hunter

The character of Valance was introduced in 1978 by veteran comic writer Archie Goodwin. He was never given a complete name, but when Jason Fry expanded the Valance story for roleplaying purposes in his multi-part online article The Hunt Within, he gave the bounty hunter a first name. Convinced that Goodwin took the name "Valance" from the classic John Ford western film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Fry intended Valance's first name to be an anagram of "Liberte." He also named Valance's homeworld Shinbone, after the town in the film where Liberty Valance lived.

Appearances

 * Marvel Star Wars 16: The Hunter
 * Marvel Star Wars 27: Return of the Hunter
 * Marvel Star Wars 29: Dark Encounter