Elis Helrot

"Those Imperials are causing trouble again. Some of their bucketheads had a firefight that damaged a load of ships, and a poor droid leaked oil everywhere."

- Elis Helrot

Elis Helrot was a Givin pilot and spice smuggler who spoke with the bounty hunter Bossk about the fugitive Imperial droid 261 in Mos Eisley spaceport on the planet Tatooine in the year 0 BBY. Helrot was present in Chalmun's Cantina when the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi got into an altercation with Ponda Baba and Cornelius Evazan.

Biography
Elis Helrot was a Givin who worked as a pilot and a smuggler of spice during the reign of the Galactic Empire. In the year 0 BBY, Helrot was in the spaceport of Mos Eisley on the planet Tatooine when the rogue Imperial astromech droid 261 crashed its stolen Lambda-class T-4a shuttle in one of the port's hangar bays after escaping from the Death Star superweapon with sensitive Imperial files. Imperial stormtroopers then engaged the droid in a firefight and managed to damage it, but 261 managed to escape while leaking oil.

When the Trandoshan bounty hunter Bossk arrived in Mos Eisley a short while later searching for 261, he spoke with Helrot in one of the spaceport's buildings about the events of the crash. Later that year, Helrot was sat at a booth table with the Gotal Feltipern Trevagg and the H'nemthe M'iiyoom Onith in Chalmun's Cantina in Mos Eisley when the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi used his lightsaber to fend off the thugs Doctor Cornelius Evazan and Ponda Baba at the cantina's bar.

Personality and traits
Elis Helrot had white skin and black eyes. The Givin spoke disparagingly of Imperial stormtroopers to the bounty hunter Bossk.

Equipment
Elis Helrot wore a black shirt with a white shawl while in Mos Eisley.

Behind the scenes
"Another booth-based reshoot alien, this walking skeleton with the anguished face was based on original illustrations by Ralph McQuarrie. It was nicknamed "Skull Head," and was to have the proper name of Kull."

- Author Pablo Hidalgo, discussing the creation of Elis Helrot

The character who would eventually be known as Elis Helrot was created for the film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, which was released on May 25, 1977. The character did not actually make it into the final cut of the film, but was portrayed on set by Jon Berg who sat in a booth with the aliens that would later be named as M'iiyoom Onith and Feltipern Trevagg, during the shooting of supplemental footage for the cantina scene during post production. The extra wore a rubber mask constructed by makeup artist Rick Baker, who had based the design on one of artist Ralph McQuarrie's pieces of concept art.

On set, Helrot was originally known by the nicknamed "Skull Head", and plans were made to officially name the character Kull, although these never came to fruition. Instead the character was given the name of "Elis Helrot" in the 1995 release of the Decipher, Inc. Star Wars Customizable Card Game Premiere Limited set. According to a Star Wars CCG fan site, Elis Helrot was named as an anagram of Decipher game creator Rollie Tesh.

Helrot's first appearance in canon was in the children's activity book Bounty Hunt, which was written by Katrina Pallant, illustrated by Robert Ball, and released on April 7, 2016. Helrot's name and presence at Onith and Feltipern's table in the cantina were then confirmed to be canon in the sourcebook Star Wars: Complete Locations, which was released on September 27, 2016. A promotional image of Helrot's costume from A New Hope was confirmed to be canon when it appeared in the Star Wars: Card Trader app.

Appearances

 * Bounty Hunt