Raynar Thul

"(Han) had noticed that questions seemed to boil out of the boy the way words bubbled out of young Tahiri."

- Han Solo

Raynar Thul was an antagonist, then a friend, of the Solo twins. He was the son of former Alderaan nobles Bornan and Aryn Dro Thul, and the heir of their shipping enterprise, Bornaryn Trading. As a member of the House of Thul, he was often seen in garments bearing the colors of his noble family's house&mdash;purple, gold, and red.

Childhood
Raynar was born on the flagship of Bornaryn Trading, the Tradewyn. His family's home planet of Alderaan was destroyed approx. 10 years before his birth, and his parents and uncle kept the spirit of their homeworld alive by participating in family customs such as the Ceremony of Waters.

Spoilt and boastful, Raynar took after his uncle Tyko Thul in personality. He was raised with the best of everything money can buy, but lacked physical affection from his family.

Jedi training
At some point, Raynar was discovered to be Force sensitive and sent to Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 to train his ability in the Force. Raynar was not a popular student at the academy, and was often found annoying fellow students by either interrupting Luke Skywalker's lessons with a lot of questions, or claiming to be superior in the Force to everyone else.

During the Shadow Academy attack, Raynar's boasts about how good he was with the Force were proven wrong, as he was trounced by Dark Jedi, and would have been killed had Zekk not thrown him into the mud. From then on he vowed to work harder on his mastery of the Force to back up his boasts. Following the battle, Raynar assisted in tending the injured. Among those he attended was his old enemy Tenel Ka, who had recently been injured during a fight with the Nightsister Tamith Kai. As a result, he was befriended by Tenel Ka, the Solo twins Jacen and Jaina, and the Wookiee Lowbacca, all of whom had been his enemies previously.

Shortly after the attack by the Shadow Academy, Han Solo told Raynar that Bornan Thul had gone missing. After offering to form a search party, Raynar was told to stay at the academy. As weeks went by without any word from Bornan, Aryn Dro Thul recalled her son to the flagship Tradewyn for his security and her peace of mind. After a traitor was discovered and dispatched, Raynar stayed aboard the ship for a few more weeks. Missing his new friends Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka, and Lowbacca, he got a ride back to Yavin 4 with the supplier old Peckhum.

After hearing about the human-hating Diversity Alliance and its leader, Nolaa Tarkona, from former Diversity Alliance member Lusa, Raynar understood why his father disappeared on the way to meet Tarkona. Bornan Thul had acquired a navicomputer with coordinates to a plague warehouse that he was supposed to have given Tarkona, but found out what she planned to do with it and hid. Unfortunately, Bornan Thul had visited the warehouse, and Boba Fett (actually Ailyn Vel in disguise) had hacked into his navigation logs, found the coordinates, and turned them over to Tarkona.

After being reunited with his father, Raynar, along with Zekk and the Jedi trainees, helped his father wire the warehouse with explosives. Unfortunately, The Diversity Alliance showed up, and Bornan Thul was exposed to a human-killing virus in the ensuing confrontation. Raynar had to watch his father die hours after being reunited with him.

After a mourning period, Raynar went back to Yavin 4 and built his lightsaber. He was also delighted to learn that Lusa, to whom he had become close, was now a full-time student at the Academy.

The Yuuzhan Vong invasion
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Raynar's friend Lusa was killed by the voxyn on Chiron leaving him devasted. Raynar joined in a all Jedi squadron in an ambush at Froz with the nickname Merchantman. He believed along with Alema Rar that destroying the voxyn and defeating the Yuuzhan Vong would justify any action they undertake, this caused great controversy within the group, especially Jacen and Zekk who believed that such action could only lead to the dark side.

Raynar was chosen as a member of the Myrkr strike team mission to kill the voxyn queen, mainly to avenge the death of Lusa. During the Mission to Myrkr, he grew close to Eryl Besa, but any relationship was cut short when she was killed and he was wounded. Raynar was put on the Tachyon Flier, until he recovered. The Dark Jedi Welk and Lomi Plo captured him and flew off. The vessel was damaged just before it managed to jump, and the team felt a surge through the Force that they believed was Raynar's death.

UnuThul
"Raynar Thul is no more. We are UnuThul."

- UnuThul



In truth, he survived the crash landing of the Tachyon Flier, but was horribly mutilated, not to mention psychologically traumatized. Despite this, he still dragged the unconscious forms of Welk and Lomi from the burning wreckage, and all three were absorbed into a colony of Killiks. Raynar took on the persona of UnuThul.

UnuThul insisted that Raynar is gone, but Luke Skywalker also insisted that there was a part of his former apprentice still in him.

Raynar had moved the Killiks close to the Chiss' territory, which angered the Chiss. When the Chiss attacked, war almost broke out. Luke, Han, Leia, Mara, and others helped stop the war, or at least avoid it. Leia and Han gave a suggestion that Raynar move his people to a new planet that they had discovered named Woteba. Raynar agreed. One year later, a disease called the Fizz started to attack the Killiks that had settled on the planet. The planet's disease harmed everything that appeared to harm Woteba, acting as an environmental defense system.

Raynar was furious and he imprisoned Han and Luke under the influence of the Dark Nest. He sent all of the Killiks back to the Chiss Frontier. While on their way, they were attacked by the Galactic Alliance fleet. Raynar commandeered one of the shuttles and took off with most of the Killiks. Many considered Raynar to be an enemy after that, but some still thought of him as the Jedi he once was.

In 36 ABY, at the height of the Swarm War, he and Luke Skywalker battled - Raynar wielding a golden lightsaber – and during their duel, Luke was forced to cut off part of his arm. Luke knocked some sense into Raynar and demanded that he leave the Killiks. After the defeat of Lomi Plo, Raynar, who was knocked unconscious by Luke and brought back to the Jedi headquarters, was given a special brain hood to wear so that if he tried to communicate with the Killiks, he would be zapped. Raynar was then put in the custody of the Jedi Order, and as recently as 40 ABY, was locked in a cell deep at the Jedi Praxeum on Ossus, still undergoing rehabilitation for afflictions both physical and mental.

Behind the scenes

 * When Raynar was first introduced in Heirs of the Force, he was not given a last name and was just described as a spoiled young man that wore garish robes of varing colors. He was given his last name in the Diversity Alliance arc of the Young Jedi Knights series, which also fleshed out his backstory and identified him as the son of Bornan Thul and Aryn Dro from A.C. Crispin's Han Solo Trilogy.
 * The relationship between Raynar and Lusa is controversial among Star Wars fans.

Appearances

 * Heirs of the Force
 * Jedi Under Siege
 * Shards of Alderaan
 * Diversity Alliance
 * Delusions of Grandeur
 * Jedi Bounty
 * The Emperor's Plague
 * Crisis at Crystal Reef
 * Star by Star
 * Dark Journey
 * Destiny's Way
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Dark Nest II: The Unseen Queen
 * Dark Nest III: The Swarm War
 * Betrayal