Lo-Taren

"I can't believe my luck, a Jedi youngling!"

- Lo-Taren

Lo-Taren was a Trandoshan male and a member of a hunting guild organized by the Trandoshan Garnac which specialized in the hunting of other sentient beings. During the year 20 BBY, Lo-Taren was searching for potential hunting prey on the planet Felucia when he came across the Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano. Lo-Taren captured the Togruta and took her to the moon of Wasskah. Dropping her off on an island along with several other prisoners, Lo-Taren opened fire as soon as they were free, killing two of the prisoners. The next day, Lo-Taren continued the hunt but was nearly killed by the Jedi youngling Kalifa when she used the Force to strangle him out of anger while he was distracted. However, Tano allowed Lo-Taren to live.

Lo-Taren later investigated a freighter the Jedi caused to crash before returing to the guild's floating headquarters. When Tano later attacked the floating fortress with two other younglings and a Wookiee in tow, Lo-Taren attempted to defend the fortress. The Trandoshans were nearly successful, but a rescue mission led by the Wookiee general Tarfful turned the tide. Lo-Taren was killed by a Wookiee soldier during the ensuing firefight which ultimately saw the deaths of Garnac and the hunting guild itself.

To catch a Jedi
"We have found new prey for the hunt. The youngling will provide great sport."

- Lo-Taren announces his successful capture of Ahsoka Tano

Lo-Taren was a Trandoshan male who, during the year 20 BBY, was a member of a hunting guild that was led by the Trandoshan Garnac. The guild, which operated on the moon of Wasskah, hunted other sentient beings that would be captured by the guild from across the galaxy. During 20 BBY, Lo-Taren was present on one such kidnapping expedition. Detaining prisoners on a HCT-2001 Dragonboat-class Reugeot 905 freighter piloted by the Trandoshans Krix and Lagon, Lo-Taren's hunt eventually brought him to the planet Felucia. By this point, the freighter already held the Snivvian Katt Mol, the Sakiyan Vadoo, the Terrelian Jango Jumper Lika, and the Selkath Morgo.

At the time of Lo-Taren's arrival, Felucia was hosting a battle between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems as a part of the ongoing Clone Wars. While out in the Felucian jungle, Lo-Taren trailed a squad of Republic clone troopers led by the Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano. Although Tano was aware of Lo-Taren's general presence due to her connection with the Force, she was unable to focus in on her tail. Lo-Taren followed the Republic unit to a Separatist fortress, and when the Republic began to attack the fortress, the clones ascended an outer wall.

Tano, however, decided to cover them from the ground, as she still sensed Lo-Taren. Distracted by her hunch, the Trandoshan hunter ambushed Tano with an electrified net gun and rendered the Padawan unconscious with a well-aimed stun net. Happy with his prize, Lo-Taren hauled Tano back to the Dragonboat freighter and, after confiscating her comlink, locked her in a cage.

When Tano awoke, Lo-Taren stood over her with her comlink in hand, which was receiving messages from Tano's master, Anakin Skywalker. Lo-Taren crushed the comlink and went to the ship's bridge where he met with Garnac and informed him that new Jedi prey had been acquired. In turn, Garnac turned to his son Dar and expressed hope that Lo-Taren's capture would become Dar's first Jedi kill. Lo-Taren agreed with the sentiment and the freighter departed Felucia for Wasskah.

Padawan hunt
"Kalifa! Don't kill him out of hatred. It's not the Jedi way."

- Ahsoka Tano spares Lo-Taren from Kalifa's wrath

Upon arriving to the moon, Garnac ordered for the ship's complement of prisoners to be released on the beach of Island Four. When the captives stalled on the beach, Lo-Taren manned a forward facing laser turret and opened fire, killing Vadoo and Morgo. The survivors quickly escaped into the island's jungle.

The following dawn, Garnac officially endorsed the beginning of the next hunt. Lo-Taren and the other Trandoshans jumped aboard MSP80 Pteropter hover pods and went to the moon's surface. Despite riding down with hunters Ratter and Sochek, Lo-Taren separated from them to hunt by himself on foot. Lo-Taren encountered Ahsoka Tano out in the open who, ironically, was hunting for him after separating from three other stranded Jedi she found, the younglings Kalifa, O-Mer, and Jinx. Lo-Taren attempted to shoot Tano, but she disarmed him with the use of the Force. They engaged in hand-to-hand combat in which Lo-Taren successfully wore Tano down. The Trandoshan grabbed his dropped rifle, but before he could kill Tano, he was lifted into the air by Kalifa and telekinetically strangled. Not wanting Kalifa to kill simply out of hatred, Tano had her release Lo-Taren before his windpipe was crushed.

Lo-Taren called for backup, which prompted O-Mer and Jinx to attack him and use the Force to throw Lo-Taren into a tree and knock him out. Before running off, Tano grabbed the Trandoshan's blaster rifle. However, the rifle was remotely deactivated so that the Jedi could not make use of it. That night, Lo-Taren was present on Garnac's Ubrikkian floating fortress headquarters for Dar's initiation ceremony, and partook in chanting Dar's name. However, Lo-Taren's inability to kill the Jedi inadvertently led to Dar's death at Tano's hands the next day. Garnac killed Kalifa shortly after and swore revenge on the remaining Jedi.

Wookiees versus Trandoshans
"Ahh, it's the younglings that did this. They're getting bold.''" "What about survivors?" "''Both of our men were killed, and there was only one prisoner, a Wookiee. And he's missing."

- Lo-Taren reports on the Dragonboat crash to Garnac

The following day, Lo-Taren, Garnac, and several other Trandoshans returned to Island Four's beach, which was the site of the destroyed Dragonboat-class freighter that the Trandoshans had been using to capture prey. Lo-Taren investigated the crash, found that pilots Clutch and Goron were dead, and that the sole prisoner they had captured during their trip, the Wookiee Chewbacca, had escaped and joined the Jedi. Lo-Taren relayed the information to Garnac and expressed belief that with the ship grounded, the Jedi had become bolder. Garnac likewise concluded that the Jedi had become organized. The Trandoshan Smug later returned to the crash site to hunt the Jedi, but was captured. The next day, Smug contacted Lo-Taren and requested a pickup. Krix was sent in response.

The next day, the Jedi and Chewbacca launched a surprise attack on the floating fortress using Krix's hover pod, which they had stolen from him when Krix tried to rendezvous with Smug. After the attackers threw Lagon to his death, Ramy called for backup. Lo-Taren and the other Trandoshans swarmed to Ramy's position and began to fight the attackers. Lo-Taren, alongside fellow hunter Sochek, attempted to take the upper hand by flanking the Jedi. However, O-Mer used the stolen hover pod's blaster cannon to force the two Trandoshans behind cover. O-Mer was quickly shot down by Garnac, and the crash halted the Jedi offensive. Garnac congratulated Tano's force on their effort, but before they could be eliminated, the fortress was besieged by the starship Halo, piloted by bounty hunters Sugi and Seripas. The bounty hunters brought Wookiee reinforcements led by General Tarfful, who had earlier received a signal from a makeshift transmitter that Chewbacca built out of the Trandoshan freighter's wreckage.

Lo-Taren and Sochek fired on the Wookiees with their weapons, but were forced to take cover behind an overturned hover pod. Lo-Taren failed to kill any enemies, however, and after straying too far from the hover pod's cover he was shot and killed by a Wookiee soldier. Lo-Taren's demise distracted Sochek long enough for O-Mer to use the Force to move the overturned hover pod away from Sochek. Upon realizing his vulnerability, Sochek too was shot.

The conflict concluded after all of the Trandoshans were eliminated, including Garnac, who fell victim to Tano's use of the Force. The hunt had come to an end.

Personality and traits
"Your son will outplay all comers."

- Lo-Taren tells of his faith in Dar

A Trandoshan with orange-colored scales and yellow eyes, Lo-Taren was eager for the hunt on Wasskah. Upon capturing Ahsoka Tano, Lo-Taren expressed excitement at the capture of a Jedi youngling. During Dar's initiation, Lo-Taren, along with the other Trandoshans, cheered for Dar as he prepared for the hunt. Lo-Taren had faith in Dar's abilities, believing that the young Trandoshan would outperform his prey. Lo-Taren cared little for the captives he and the others detained and showed no qualms about gunning the prisoners down on Island Four's beachhead, where they were afforded little cover. Lo-Taren was proficient in hunting and combat, being able to ambush a Jedi even while they could sense his presence.

Lo-Taren was also able to go up against Ahsoka Tano, a skilled Jedi Padawan, and best her in hand-to-hand combat. Despite being able to capture Tano with a net launcher and gun down two captives with ship turret, Lo-Taren proved to be inaccurate with blasters, as he failed to score a hit on Tano when he hunted her in the jungle, and similarly failed to kill any of the Wookiee soldiers that attacked the floating fortress.

Equipment
"Open fire!"

- Garnac, ordering Lo-Taren to fire upon recently released prey

While hunting Tano on Felucia, Lo-Taren carried an electrified net gun that could render targets unconscious with disintegrating stun nets. While hunting for prey on Wasskah, Lo-Taren used a blaster rifle that could be remotely deactivated if it fell into the hands of prey, but after losing the weapon, Lo-Taren switched to carrying two blaster pistols. He dual-wielded the pistols during the fortress battle against the Wookiees, but he proved to be less than accurate with the weapons, and failed to repel any of the attackers.

Lo-Taren proved to be adept with the chin-mounted laser cannon on Garnac's Reugeot freighter when, on Garnac's orders, he used the cannon shortly after releasing Tano's group of prisoners on Island Four. Lo-Taren instantly killed Morgo with the weapon, who had not yet tried to escape, and was able to gun down Vadoo while the Sakiyan tried to make a run for it. However, the other three prisoners managed to evade his follow up attacks.

Lo-Taren wore gray-colored clothing during the length of the Ahsoka Tano hunt, including a gray vest with green highlights. Lo-Taren also wore knee pads and had an electronic gauntlet with a built in comlink.

Behind the scenes
Lo-Taren was created for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series and played a supporting role in "Padawan Lost" and "Wookiee Hunt," the twenty-first and twenty-second episodes of the show's third season, respectively. Both episodes, in which Lo-Taren's voice was provided by Richard Green, aired on April 1, 2011 as Season Three's finale. Lo-Taren was later included in the Android and iOS app Star Wars: Card Trader.

Lo-Taren, as well as all of the Trandoshans that appeared in the episodes, were designed by concept artist Pat Presley. Lo-Taren's name was penned by Star Wars creator George Lucas during a writing session.

Deleted scenes
Among the scenes cut from "Padawan Lost," Lo-Taren was present in several of them. Chronologically, the scenes detail: Lo-Taren returning to his comrades after losing his skirmish with Ahsoka Tano, where he believes that Tano has rallied the other Padawans into fighting; Lo-Taren and the hunter Ratter track and hunt down Katt Mol and Vadoo; Lo-Taren attempts to ambush Tano again, only to be defeated by her use of the Force; While using active camouflage&mdash;a concept for the episodes that was scrapped entirely&mdash;Lo-Taren and Ratter chase Jinx and O-Mer through the jungle only to be avoided and thrown off a cliff, after which they are saved by Sochek in his hover pod.