Zam Wesell/Legends

"You're no lady." "Sometimes I am."

- Jango Fett and Zam Wesell

Zam Wesell was a shapeshifting Clawdite bounty hunter from the planet Zolan.

In her true form, Wesell was a green-skinned reptilian, although she often appeared as a Human woman with short reddish-blonde hair and wore a tight-fitting purple Mabari armorweave bodysuit with a veil over her face.

Early Life (52 to 32 BBY)
Zam Wesell was born on Zolan in the Mid Rim. She was a member of the Clawdite species, who had become changelings due to genetic engineering gone awry sometime earlier and were constantly at war with the dominant Humanoid population, known as Zolanders. Wesell grew up in an opressed society that would later go on to support the Confederacy with the hopes of being liberated.

While on Zolan, Wesell trained in the ways of the Mabari, an ancient order of warrior-knights. Her greed and desire for profit met with disapproval from those around and she chose to leave Zolan at a young age to turn her abilities into credits. Her first job was in corporate security on the planet Denon, an ecumenopolis second only to Coruscant. She rose from officer, to sergeant, to executive bodyguard in short time before she decided that she did not earn enough and became a professional bounty hunter. During her career as a bounty hunter, Wesell was credited with the assassination of Senator Jubben and Baron Wazado.

Partnership with Jango Fett (32 to 22 BBY)
"You could learn a thing or two about being subtle."

- Jango Fett to Wesell following their escape from Oovo IV

One of Wesell's earliest missions was the capture of Bendix Fust, a smuggler wanted by the Malastarian Dug crime lord Sebolto. Fust was an inmate at the infamous Oovo IV asteroid prison, but that did not stop Wesell from breaking in, capturing him, and staging a riot in order to cover her escape. Unfortunately, the notorious Jango Fett had also broken in at the same time, for the same target. Their mutual interference botched their respective plans and they were forced to work together to escape. Wesell cost Jango his ship, Jaster's Legacy and he was forced to steal a prototype Firespray-class patrol ship, which he would later name Slave I.

Wesell and Fett developed a tense partnership, which he considered lettering her "tag along" following the incident on Oovo IV. After Fust was turned in to Sebolto, Jango revealed to her that he had been working a larger job, tracking Komari Vosa, a former Jedi who had become the leader of the death-obsessed Bando Gora cult. After Sebolto's clues led Jango and Wesell to Tatooine, Wesell was forced to betray Jango to save herself from Gardulla the Elder. Nevertheless, Jango escaped certain death and found what he needed from Gardulla, killing her as a favor to Jabba Desilijic Tiure. For her betrayal, Jango left Wesell in Gardulla's dungeon.



Somehow, she managed to escape and track Jango to one of the moons of Bogden, headquarters of the Bando Gora. Jango was captured by Komari Vosa and only Wesell's timely interference saved him, though her blasts were deflected by Vosa's twin lightsabers. Before Vosa could finish her, Zam blasted the bonds holding Jango, allowing him to rush for his weapons. Startled, Vosa fled, but not before Jango reached her and after a long battle, defeated her.

As Jango carried the wounded Wesell back to the Slave I, he explained that he had been hired by Darth Tyranus, otherwise known as former Jedi Count Dooku, to become the template for an army of clones on Kamino, and stranger still, he had asked Tyranus to give him one unaltered clone to raise as his son.

Five years before the Battle of Geonosis, Wesell learned that Fett was hired to steal the Infant of Shaa. When she realized that General Ashaar Khorda was going to use it to destroy Coruscant, she convinced Fett to steal it back to prevent the Republic and billions of people from being destroyed.

Collaborating with Yarael Poof, a member of the Jedi Council also seeking the Infant of Shaa, the unlikely trio succeeded in thwarting Khorda's plan. Although Khorda killed Master Poof before being killed by Fett himself, the dying Jedi Master was able to neutralize the Infant of Shaa before it could be used to destroy Coruscant's central power core.

Wesell preferred working alone, but worked together from time to time over a period of ten years beginning 32 BBY. Although Wesell thought the idea of Jango raising a clone son rather silly, she eventually had a pseudo-maternal relationship with Boba Fett. She considered Jango a romantic interest, but her career came first, and their relationship never went beyond a partnership.

Plot to Assassinate Senator Amidala (22 BBY)
"It was only a job."

- Wesell to Anakin Skywalker about her attempt to assassinate Senator Amidala.

Around ten years after Wesell first met Jango Fett, he was hired by Count Dooku and Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray to assassinate Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo. In order to keep the plot a secret, Jango sub-contracted the hit to Wesell.

Wesell's first attempt involved planting explosives on the Senator's landing platform. Although she succeeded in destroying the Naboo Royal Cruiser, the explosion killed the senator's decoy, Cordé, rather than the Senator herself.



After being reprimanded by Jango Fett, he provided her with deadly kouhuns, which he considered more "subtle." Wesell loaded them into her assassin droid, ASN-121, who slipped them into the senator's bedroom. However, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi detected their presence and destroyed them.

Kenobi used the droid to locate Wesell, but she destroyed ASN-121 and nearly sent Kenobi falling to his death if not for the timely arrival of Anakin Skywalker. She attempted to escape in her Koro-2 Exodrive airspeeder, but was chased through the skies of Coruscant. Only after Skywalker leapt onto her airspeeder was he able to cause her to misfire her blaster pistol and cause the vehicle to crash-land near the seedy Outlander Club.



Inside the Outlander Club, Wesell hid until she noticed the two Jedi had separated. Wesell attempted to sneak up on Kenobi, but his Jedi reflexes allowed him to dismember her. Outside the club she was interrogated by the pair, but was reluctant to give up any information until Skywalker pressured her to reveal who had hired her.

Wesell confessed to Skywalker that she was hired by a bounty hunter and revealed part of a name, "Jango." The nearby Fett was forced to silence her with a Kamino saberdart before she could provide them with additional information. As she died, she reverted to her natural Clawdite form and cursed Fett in Huttese.

Jango's return to Kamino marked the only occasion his son, Boba, had ever seen him emotionally disturbed. The saberdart found on Wesell's corpse ultimately led Kenobi to Kamino where he discovered the clone army.

Equipment
Wesell equipped herself with a suit of Mabari armorweave, which facilitated her ability to shapeshift and included the added modification of a targeting scope on her helmet. For a personal blaster she selected a KYD-21 blaster pistol. The blaster would later fall into the hands of Boba Fett who awarded it to an unknown individual who killed the bounty hunter Durge. Later, she would add a projectile rifle to her arsenal at the insistence of Jango Fett. For a personal vehicle Zam used a Koro-2 Exodrive airspeeder she acquired from the Mining Guild and transplanted it from use on planets with hostile environments to ecumenopolis worlds like Denon and Coruscant. She modified it to suit her needs, which included storage compartments for her weaponry, assassin droid, special oils for Clawdite use in the cockpit, and a phony mining permit registration sticker for the Teraab Sector.

Behind the scenes

 * Zam Wesell was played by Leeanna Walsman in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, who also provided the voice for the character in the game Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. She was voiced by Diane Michelle in the game Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns.
 * Originally, Zam Wesell was designed to be a "Corporate Alliance Trooper".
 * Zam Wesell is the only acting female villain to appear in the Star Wars series. Other female villains have appeared (Rogwa Wodrata, Denaria Kee, Tey How, Shu Mai, Cat Miin and Aurra Sing), but did not act as proper villains in terms of plot involvement.
 * The character may be a reference to the "Tleilaxu face-dancers" in Frank Herbert's Dune.
 * Zam's last words, "Murishani sleemo," are actually in Huttese. Translated, they mean "Bounty hunter slimeball."
 * Zam's Mabari armorweave resembles the Jal Shey Neophyte Armor.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
 * Star Wars: Jango Fett
 * Star Wars: Zam Wesell
 * Star Wars Adventures 4: Jango Fett vs. the Razor Eaters
 * Star Wars Adventures 5: The Shape-Shifter Strikes
 * Star Wars Adventures 6: Warlords of Balmorra
 * Boba Fett: The Fight to Survive
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Bloodlines