KkH'Oar'Rrhr

KkH'Oar'Rrhr, also known as Hoar, was a Tusken Raider from Tatooine, and a Teräs Käsi artist practicing during the Rebellion era.

Early life
A male Tusken Raider, KkH'Oar'Rrhr was born on the suns-scorched planet of Tatooine, in the last years of the Galactic Republic. He was was keenly attuned to the Force, a mystical energy field that bound the galaxy together and gave special powers to those who knew how to wield it. He belonged to the Rrhr hunting band, one of the many Tusken clans that dwelled in Tatooine's sweeping expanses of wilderness. In 22 BBY, the Rrhr clan captured a Human named Shmi Skywalker Lars, whom they regarded as a witch and the mate of the Great Jawenko. Soon thereafter, the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker came to rescue his captive mother and, upon seeing her dying in his arms, ended up slaughtering the whole village in a fit of rage. Hoar was the sole survivor of the carnage, because he had been away bonding with his bantha at the time. Following that dramatic event, KkH'Oar'Rrhr was adopted into a clan led by A'Sharad Hett, a Human-born Tusken leader.

One day, the young orphan KkH'Oar'Rrhr snuck into a mysterious dwelling located in the Dune Sea. Rumor had it that hovel was the home of a powerful wizard, and KkH'Oar'Rrhr intended to steal one of his magical devices. The Tusken then discovered a strange weapon that was, unbeknownst to him, the lightsaber once carried by Anakin Skywalker. Upon touching the weapon, KkH'Oar'Rrhr had a vision of a Human youngling covering his face with a frightening black mask and motioning to strike the Tusken down. He awoke when the "wizard"&mdash;actually the Jedi Master in hiding Obi-Wan Kenobi&mdash;returned home, and he vacated the premises without ado.

After he narrated how he had "boldly battled past the wizard" in his flight, Hoar was told by his companions Bordo and Sliven that the Human in his vision must have been the "Demon Outlander" who had massacred the Rrhr clan years ago. Shortly afterwards, clan leader A'Sharad Hett discovered the Force-sensitivity of KkH'Oar'Rrhr. Hett had once been a Jedi himself, and he decided to train Hoar as his successor. The young Tusken was taught how to channel his aggression through the Teräs Käsi martial art, and was also taught the rudiments of Galactic Basic Standard. KkH'Oar'Rrhr was also given a special, bisected gaderffii stick, and was trained in dual-weapon fighting. As KkH'Oar'Rrhr grew stronger, he became the idol of the younger Raiders.

Maw and the Grave Tuskens
Around 17 BBY, KkH'Oar'Rrhr took part in a raid on the boundaries of the Lars homestead, where his family had once captured Shmi Skywalker. Obi-Wan Kenobi, who protected that place, confronted A'Sharad Hett, with his whole army watching. The chieftain was defeated in a lightsaber duel, and, during the fight, Kenobi unmasked Hett, while the exposing of one's naked flesh was considered a disgrace in the Tusken culture. Because of that, Hett instantly fell out of favor with his tribesmen. KkH'Oar'Rrhr, however, still admired his master, and he decided to leave Tatooine in search of his master, dragging along many admiring Raiders. With his men, he long searched the Outer Rim Territories for Hett, but to no avail. In the end of the day, KkH'Oar'Rrhr and his brothers in arm had become discouraged vagrants.

While searching Dromund Kaas, KkH'Oar'Rrhr met Maw, a former Jedi Shadow who had turned to the dark side of the Force. Maw transported KkH'Oar'Rrhr and his nomads to Tython, birthplace of the Jedi Order, where they were reorganized into the "Grave Tuskens," whose role was to pillage ancient Jedi graves for precious artifacts. In honor of A'Sharad Hett, KkH'Oar'Rrhr and his riders wore special masks that left their bare faces exposed. Soon thereafter, the Grave Tusken's thievery soon attracted the interest of Arden Lyn, an incredibly ancient Human cyborg who served as one of the Emperor's Hands.

Hoar's revenge
After Lyn interfered with one of the Grave Tuskens' pillages, KkH'Oar'Rrhr dueled with the Emperor's Hand. Her abilities in Teräs Käsi, however, overpowered that of KkH'Oar'Rrhr's formable fighting abilities. Despite being defeated, he was later recruited into Lyn's school of Teräs Käsi after he surprised the latter with his knowledge on her martial art, and was promised to make him more powerful than he imagined. Seeing the opportunity to get stronger, he left the Grave Tuskens behind and trained under her. Armed with the traditional Tusken weapon, the gaderffii, Hoar became a student of Arden Lyn. With her guidance, he honed his fighting skills and mastery of Teräs Käsi. In hand-to-hand combat, Hoar wore the traditional Tusken battle mask that included long, metal pieces protruding from both sides of the jaw to protect the throat from direct attack. He eventually channeled his own Force abilities into Teräs Käsi, becoming a destructive whirlwind.

Lyn later exposed a hologram of Luke Skywalker, one of the members of the Rebel Alliance. Because of Skywalker's striking resemblance to the reputed "Demon Outlander" who wiped out his clan, as well his carrying the lightsaber he saw in the wizard's hut, he was determined to track down and avenge his clan by striking him down. However, Kenobi's Force ghost protected Skywalker at all times, leaving much frustration to the Tusken. He later retooled each half of Hett's gaffi Stick into a functional lightsaber, using instructions he had stolen from the Tython Tombs in one of his earlier raids. He eventually had a crisis of conscience when he and Lyn encountered Darth Vader, whom the Tusken noted bore a large resemblance to the masked man he had experienced in his vision. He then wondered whether there were two Demon Outlanders, whether Vader and Skywalker were one and the same, or even if he was going insane from the childhood trauma.

The conclusion he reached was unknown, although he eventually encountered Skywalker and dueled him. After besting Skywalker in combat, despite Lyn's orders to kill him, he spared him due to experiencing another vision. He then fled, although not before confronting Lyn in mortal combat. He was rumored to have attempted to hunt down Vader and Hett, which eventually took him as far as the Outer Rim planet of Shumari.

Vader, who was weary after having dueled Tao, his former apprentice, was taken by surprise, as the Tusken Raider leapt at him and knocked him to the ground. As Vader lay defeated on the ground, the Tusken prepared to deal the deathblow and defeat the Sith Lord once and for all; the only thing that saved Vader's life was his dying apprentice Tao, who saved Vader and told him not to let the Emperor control him, sensing some good within his master.

Behind the scenes
"Swore revenge... vowed hunt you forever. Learn your tongue. Learn you fight. Travel the galaxy forever."

- Tusken Raider

Hoar first appeared as a playable character in the fighting game Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi. No new information was available on him until his backstory was fleshed out in the second part of the Star Wars blog article Barely Tolerable: Alien Henchmen of the Empire, which tied him into various pre-existing Expanded Universe elements and also revealed that he was the sole survivor of Anakin Skywalker's raid on the village in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. According to Abel G. Peña, one of the authors of the blog, Hoar was his favorite character in Masters of Teras Kasi after playing the game for continuous hours.

The ending of his section heavily implies him to be the Tusken Raider in the Perfect Evil manga's climax that fought and grievously wounded Vader on Shumari before being struck down himself. However, stories from Star Wars Manga have published in English in the United Kingdom under Infinities label, which established the material in them as non-canonical. Author Daniel Wallace also stated definitively in the article We Need to Talk About Jar Jar, written for Star Wars Insider 131 in February 2012, that the stories included in the Star Wars Manga: Black comic trade paperback are non-canon. The planet Shumari has been referenced in The Essential Atlas, which included the Shumari system in its appendix, however, according to Jason Fry, "its inclusion shouldn't be taken as a statement of canonicity for anything except the geography."

It can be therefore inferred that while Hoar's encounter with Vader on Shumari has been canonized, the rest of the story, including involvement of Tao and Hoar's demise, has not. As such the confrontation between Hoar and Vader in the manga becomes a non-canonical depiction of a canonical event, much as Anakin's massacre of the Tusken tribe. Abel G. Peña explained that his making Hoar the Tusken Raider who ambushed Vader in the manga was derived from a combination from his own elation of having Hoar defeat Vader in Masters of Teras Kasi&mdash;who acted as the final boss of the game&mdash;as well as wanting to fix an apparent non-sequitur regarding the Tusken Raider's abrupt appearance in the climax of what was otherwise in his belief a compelling story.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi
 * Perfect Evil