Orn Free Taa/Legends

Orn Free Taa was a corpulent Rutian Twi'lek.

Biography
A former tax collector, Taa was a senator during Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum's time in office, succeeding the controversial Chom Frey Kaa. He continued to represent Ryloth in the thirteen years of the rule of Chancellor Palpatine.



Like Kaa, he differed from the normal Twi'lek in that he had four headtails instead of the normal two &mdash; in Twi'lek culture this may have been seen as a sign or power or virility. In addition, he had three fingers and a thumb instead of the normal four fingers and thumb of most other Twi'leks. He also had the sharpened teeth that were apparently common for Twi'lek males.

He was the leader of the Rim faction of senators; as such, he advocated lessening the Republic's interference in local affairs. He was the senator who nominated both Mas Amedda for the position of Vice Chair and Palpatine for the position of Supreme Chancellor.

Taa was a member of the Allocations, Appropriations, and Loyalist Committees. A Militarist in the Separatist Crisis, he was one of the biggest supporters of the Military Creation Act, which was counter to the Twi'lek's cultural disdain of violence. However, he approved of an attempt by Palpatine to negotiate with Count Dooku just prior to the outbreak of the Clone Wars.



Taa's ultimate fate is unknown, though his position on the Senate would be difficult to maintain under the Galactic Empire due to its Human High Culture ideology, not to mention the later disbanding of the Senate altogether.

He was assisted by a number of aides throughout his career, including a white Twi'lek male, a Lethan Twi'lek female, Pampy, Supi, a protocol droid, a Human male and a Human female. It is likely that the females were more for show than for administrative assistance, though the Lethan held the title of Associate Planetary Representative.

Despite his senator status within the Republic, he was known to keep in the company of Jabba the Hutt during the Boonta Eve race on Tatooine; however, his relationship with the Hutt is unknown and may be a one-off occasion.

Behind the scenes

 * Orn Free Taa has one line of dialogue in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. He utters "Watch It" to Jar Jar Binks when the Senator seems to either be in his way, or bumps into him at the Senate Chamber.
 * Orn Free Taa's appearance in The Phantom Menace video game is only a brief cameo. When the player, controlling Qui-Gon Jinn, falls into Jabba the Hutts beast pit, Orn Free Taa is seen standing next to Jabba. Once the player begins fighting Jabbas beast, Orn Free Taa vanishes.

Appearances

 * Cloak of Deception
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace game


 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Republic HoloNet News Core Edition 14:7:02
 * Star Wars Republic 61: Dead Ends
 * Star Wars Republic 63: Striking from the Shadows
 * CIS Shadowfeed Dispatch 15:01:15 Edition
 * Republic HoloNet News Core Edition 15:3:02
 * Yoda: Dark Rendezvous
 * Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith