Sarco Plank

"My specialty is finding things of value and figuring out who wants them."

- Plank explains his livelihood to C-3PO, R2-D2 and Luke Skywalker

Sarco Plank, also known as the Scavenger, was a male Melitto who made a living off of retrieving valuable artifacts for clients, while also displaying a sadistic side in luring individuals to their deaths in the process. Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, Plank guided Jedi-in-training Luke Skywalker to the Temple of Eedit on the planet Devaron, hoping to use the Jedi to unlock the temple, which Plank believed harbored a considerable amount of treasures in its sub levels. Plank revealed his true intentions to Luke after the latter outlived his usefulness and brandished an electrostaff against the Jedi trainee atop the temple. Luke fought back with his father's lightsaber and cast Plank into the depths of the temple, though Luke sensed Plank's continued survival through the Force. Plank was later active as far as 30 years after the Battle of Endor.

The outcast guide
Sarco Plank grew up in the settlement of Tikaroo on the planet Devaron, but was never popular with the town folk and came to consider the surrounding jungle his home, only returning to civilization when necessary. He was alive at a time when the Jedi Order was still active on Devaron prior to their destruction during Order 66, and was aware of the Jedi Temple of Eedit located near Tikaroo. For years he hoped to enter the temple and loot the treasures he imagined were inside, but he was stopped by the Galactic Empire, who banned entry to the location and protected it with sensors. He became commonly known as "the Scavenger", a nickname he hated, but earned by seeking out valuable objects and finding clients to purchase them. He also sometimes worked as a guide, and was free to operate as he pleased since he owned both his own gear and mount, whereas most local guides rented their equipment from a local depot owner named Porst. On some occasions, Plank would guide his clients to a gloomy depression carpeted with moss and kill them there, leaving their corpses amongst the dirt and leaves. His victims were normally wealthy and eccentric old hunters who had no one that would report them missing once they were gone. He claimed that the clients met with unfortunate accidents, but some locals came to suspect his involvement.

During the early stages of the Galactic Civil War, after the Battle of Yavin but before the Battle of Hoth, the Jedi Padawan Luke Skywalker landed on Devaron to repair his BTL-A4 Y-wing assault starfighter/bomber. Plank learned that the pilot was seeking to visit the Temple of Eedit which had lain abandoned for many years, since it had been destroyed by Savage Opress in the Clone Wars. The local guides who worked in Tikaroo refused to take Skywalker due to the Imperials, but during Skywalker's second day on Devaron, Plank waited for him on the porch of Porst's depot, where Skywalker was staying. While waiting the scavenger cleaned his blaster rifle, and then sized Skywalker up when he did arrive, offering the boy his services as a guide. Skywalker accepted, and two hours later, Plank met Skywalker outside the depot with two happabores for them to travel on. He attached howdahs to the mounts' backs and then aided Skywalker in loading his protocol droid C-3PO into the howdah on top of the smaller happabore, while the Jedi's astromech droid R2-D2 was strapped onto the beast's side. As Plank and Skywalker prepared to leave town, the local Devaronian girl Farnay arrived and tried unsuccessfully to persuade Skywalker not to travel with the Scavenger, warning him about Plank's clients that never returned.

As the four were traveling through Devaron's jungles, Skywalker sensed a number of pikhron nearby and stopped Plank, who assumed his client wanted to hunt the beasts and handed him a rifle. Skywalker refused the weapon and ordered that Plank not kill them, offering to cover whatever price the creature's hides would have been worth when the scavenger objected. Skywalker and C-3PO then questioned Plank about growing up on Devaron and how he had earned his nickname. The scavenger was surprised to learn that Skywalker had once worked as a farmer, having already heard Skywalker's cover story that he was a hyperspace scout. He then offered to sell Skywalker's starfighter and R2 unit if he was interested, as he knew individuals who would be interested in buying. The Jedi turned the offer down and asked that Plank take him to Eedit, which the Scavenger initially refused. After Skywalker claimed he only wished to see the temple due to an interest in historic sites and artifacts, Plank agreed to take him for an additional fee.

Battle at the Temple of Eedit
"I should thank you, Nobody's Padawan. I’ve been looking for a way into this place for years&mdash;and now you've been good enough to find one for me."

- Plank thanks Skywalker for showing him how to enter the Temple of Eedit

Plank took Skywalker and his droids as far as the edge of the large plateau where the temple was located, but refused to go any further due to a number of Imperial sensors dotted around the temple to stop visitors. He instead offered to take Skywalker to the location where he normally killed his clients, refusing to tell the Jedi what he would find there. The Jedi sensed Plank's intent through the Force and refused, asking how he could get closer to the temple and if there was a lake nearby, as unbeknown to Plank he had seen one in a Force vision. Puzzled, Plank explained that there was no lake nearby, but mentioned that there was a dam, which Skywalker then demanded he be taken to. At the dam, Plank examined various abandoned gear and droid parts left from the Battle of Devaron during the Clone Wars, but abandoned them as junk. He laughed when Skywalker asked for macrobinoculars to view a nearby cliff, but obliged and was surprised when his client spotted a far off cave entrance to the temple well out of his field of view.

Skywalker managed to scale the cliff and reach the cave, then returned and haggled with Plank for the use of his block and tackle in getting R2 and C-3PO up the cliff. Once the droids were safely up, the Jedi threw down Plank's gear and informed him that he would be inside the temple for a few days and would raise the guide on comlink when he wanted to leave. Plank then returned to his beasts and set up a campsite near the cliffs where he waited for Skywalker, making a campfire from branches and leaves. After a day of waiting, Plank saw a group of eight Imperial stormtroopers and an Imperial officer enter the temple with Farnay as a prisoner. Plank activated his electrostaff and followed the Imperials, commenting on Skywalker's use of a lightsaber and then activating an electromagnetic pulse from his belt to disable the Imperials' communications. One of the troopers shot at Plank and missed, prompting the alien to spear the Imperial with his staff and stun him. A full battle then broke out between the Imperials, Plank and Skywalker. Skywalker killed the Imperial officer with a deflected blaster bolt, and he and Plank then took down the remaining troopers with their lightsaber and staff respectively. Once the battle was over, Skywalker thanked Plank as the alien began throwing the troopers' bodies into a collapsed pit at the center of the temple. He explained to Skywalker that hiding the bodies would make it more difficult for the Empire to work out what had happened, and the Jedi aided him in finishing the task. Plank then revealed to Skywalker that he had worked out that the boy was a Jedi, but assumed he was only a Padawan. He then revealed that he had wanted to enter the temple and loot it for years and thanked Skywalker for showing him a way in.

The pair then dueled, and Plank soon gained the upper hand after Skywalker discovered that the scavenger's electrostaff was able to withstand his lightsaber. After Skywalker managed to nick the back of Plank's leg, the alien activated a flash grenade and blinded his foe. Skywalker was saved when Farnay began shooting at Plank, but the scavenger managed to disarm her and threatened to kill her. Skywalker then return to the fight while still blind, and assuming the boy was no threat Plank moved to finish him. He was caught off guard when Skywalker slashed across his torso and screeched in pain, drawing Skywalker's blaster pistol to shoot the Jedi. Before he could fire, a herd of pikhron charged from nearby and knocked Plank into the same pit that he had earlier thrown the stormtroopers. The scavenger survived the fall, but was left by Skywalker, who returned to Tikaroo with Farnay and the droids and then left Devaron.

Work on Jakku
Plank at some point relocated to the planet Jakku, escaping or possibly hiding from the enemies he'd made over his dubious career. On Jakku, Plank established himself as an arms dealer and bounty hunter in Niima Outpost. He acted as a fence, buying stolen weaponry, often enhancing it with Trandoshan triplers and doublers to amplify the firepower of blaster weapons. In a scavenger-based economy like Niima, such weapons were in strong demand.

Personality and traits
"He’s a wicked creature—don't go with him! I’m begging you!"

- Farnay tries to prevent Skywalker from traveling with Plank

Plank was a member of a species with no visible mouth or eyes on their head, but instead four chitin plates, with the largest on top. Small bristles which waved slightly filled the gaps between the plates. His forearms were covered with similar plates. When he spoke through the vocoder built into his helmet, Plank's voice was deep and low. He had a habit of tilting his head left and right in a vaguely clockwork like fashion when speaking to others. When he entered the Temple of Eedit to fight the Imperials, Plank radiated confidence and malice, a very different persona to the one he had shown when traveling with Skywalker. When encountering Plank for the first time the Jedi Luke Skywalker felt a ripple in the Force which left a bad taste in his mouth, but was forced to hire the guide as he had no other way of reaching the Temple of Eedit.

He believed animals were a resource to be exploited, and refused to believe that an entire galaxy's worth of them could all be used up by overhunting. He considered the people of Tikaroo's practice of living in balance with nature sentimental nonsense. When one of his happabores grunted in protest at a howdah being strapped onto its back, Plank kicked it in the head, causing it to snap its teeth at him. He threatened to destroy C-3PO while traveling with him when the droid started fretting about the dangers of the jungle.

Equipment
"This is an electrostaff, Nobody’s Padawan. A useful tool&mdash;and one designed to kill Jedi."

- Plank explains his weapon to Skywalker

The scavenger wore a battered old gray metal helmet which hid all of his head, bar his face and included a vocoder built into the chin. It was capable of extending a shield to entirely cover Plank's face when needed. His torso was strapped with two bandoliers covered in bulging pockets, which sat either side of a control box with black tubes extending from it, two of which connected to the cheeks of Plank's helmet and two of which ran up and over his shoulders. At least one of the tubes contained a pale green liquid. Mismatched armor covered his left forearm and right shoulder, and a torn cape hung from his right shoulder. Plank's belt included a switch which could activate a electromagnetic pulse.

He kept a block and tackle on one of his happabores, which he used to hoist the corpses of pikhrons for skinning during hunts. He kept a pair of small, but expensive macrobinoculars in one of the pockets of his bandoleers. In combat, he used an electrostaff, and also owned two long, boxy-looking blaster rifles and at least one flash grenade.

On Jakku, Plank wore a simpler outfit, in-keeping with the common forms of dress at Niima Outpost. He wore a layered, hooded robe in dark red tones with a lighter red underlayer. His robes were stained and dirty from the harsh conditions on Jakku. A Nutrient and Fluid Dispenser was mounted on his chestplate and feed into his chitinous mask, but he had dispensed with visible armor and no longer carries the weaponry bandolier. Plank carried a modified SoroSuub JSP-14 pistol amplified with an exotic Trandoshan tripler and made use of a Quadrijet transfer spacetug.

Behind the scenes
"Sarco Plank came up when we were doing research and producing designs with the idea of creating Sand People. One of the drafts I created got picked up, which had a little bit of a lobster feel about it, especially in the face."

- Martin Rezard speaks about the origins of Plank's design

The concept art that would become the basis for the character Sarco Plank was produced by senior sculptor Martin Rezard in September 2013 during preproduction of the film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. Titled "Sand People Head", the piece was one of several created while the film's creature design team was researching and producing designs for Sand People, and ended up being chosen for development into a full costume. Rezard felt that the character had a lobster-like feel, especially Plank's head. Further concept art of Plank was produced in January 2014 by creature concept designer Jake Lunt Davies, this time showing Plank's full body and weapon with the title "Outpost Alien C034".

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Rivals
 * The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure
 * Luke and the Lost Jedi Temple
 * The Weapon of a Jedi
 * The Weapon of a Jedi, Part 2
 * The Weapon of a Jedi, Part 3
 * The Weapon of a Jedi, Part 4
 * Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens
 * The Force Awakens, Part I

Non-canon appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens