Jowdrrl

Jowdrrl (meaning "star sky" in Shyriiwook ) was a Wookiee mechanic and Chewbacca's closest cousin. She was also the close friend of Mallatobuck, who later became her cousin-in-law. She participated in the mostly successful rescue of Han Solo from the Pride of Yevetha. She was later present at Chewbacca's funeral.

Romance and rebellion
Jowdrrl was a female Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk. Born before 100 BBY, she was part of a large family that included her cousins Chewbacca and Kallabow, two siblings who grew up on the Wookiee homeworld along with Jowdrrl and their other cousins, Shoran and Dryanta. Jowdrrl's mother once advised her young daughter that dropping a Wroshyr louse on any male Wookiee she desired and then offering to groom his fur would betrothe him to her forever. Jowdrrl was close friends with Mallatobuck, who pined after Chewbacca and hoped to one day marry him. Mallatobuck was shy and hid her true feelings from her crush, but Jowdrrl helped the two nurture a relationship.

On one occasion prior to 100 BBY, Jowdrrl and Mallatobuck were walking through Kashyyyk's treetop levels when Mallatobuck spotted Chewbacca and Dryanta tinkering with a starfighter. Mallatobuck expressed her disappointment that Chewbacca was more interested in mechanics than in her, and, as they began to climb a Wroshyr tree and collect louses, Jowdrrl suggested that her friend drop one of the lice on him. Mallatobuck did so, but the insect landed on Dryanta's head instead. The giggling girls rushed deeper into the forest, where Mallatobuck was ensnared by a net. As Trandoshan slavers emerged from the forest depths, Jowdrrl quickly ran back the way she had come. Her dropped her basket of lice caused the slavers to slip and fall when they attempted to pursue her, and Jowdrrl was able to alert Chewbacca and Dryanta to Mallatobuck's peril. The two male Wookiees killed the Trandoshans and rescued Jowdrrl's friend.

Decades later, Kashyyyk became a slave world of the Galactic Empire, who forced Wookiees into labor on Imperial construction projects. In 2 BBY, the world was occupied by Imperial forces, and an underground movement led by the Wookiee Katarra was actively resisting them. Jowdrrl worked with Katarra to undermine the Imperial presence on her homeworld. Chewbacca had meanwhile sworn a life debt to the Human smuggler Han Solo and was traveling the galaxy with him, but in that year, the two came to Kashyyyk with explosive bowcaster quarrels to deliver to the resistance movement. Jowdrrl, Katarra, Dryanta, Kallabow, and several other members of the resistance movement made their way to a cave outside the city of Rwookrrorro to greet Chewbacca and Solo, who arrived in Solo's YT-1300 light freighter, the Millennium Falcon.

Chewbacca introduced Jowdrrl and the others to Solo and to Jarik, a street urchin from Nar Shaddaa who was posing as Solo's long-lost relative. The Wookiees then bundled the Humans into quulaar sakcs and climbed across Wroshyr trees to Rwookrrorro, where they were met by Chewbacca's father Attichitcuk and several additional Wookiees. Chewbacca and his companions remained in Rwookrrorro for several days, during which time Chewbacca and Mallatobuck wed. Although Chewbacca left the planet to continue serving his life debt, their son Lumpawarrump was born one year later. Chewbacca and Solo went on to join the Rebel Alliance and fight the Galactic Empire; in the wake of the Galactic Emperor's death in 4 ABY, Kashyyyk's Imperial Moff Darcc was overthrown and the Empire's Wookiee slave trade was brought to an end.

Caretaker of the Falcon
By 16 ABY, Jowdrrl was an apt mechanic and ship systems engineer. Chewbacca borrowed the Millennium Falcon from Solo in that year and visited Kashyyyk to oversee Lumpawarrump's coming-of-age hrrtayyk ceremony, and he left the freighter in the care of Jowdrrl and Dryanta after landing it in Rwookrrorro's Landing Platform Thyss. The ship and its adventures were famous throughout the galaxy, and Jowdrrl and Dryanta were both honored to leave their homes and live aboard it for the duration of Chewbacca's stay. Streams of tourists from all across the planet came to see the Falcon and have holograms of themselves taken beside it, but Chewbacca's two cousins kept the freighter sealed and arranged for the landing platform to be watched around the clock. During the morning and afternoon, when visitors were permitted, either Jowdrrl or Dryanta stood watch to ensure that the tourists remained more than an arm's length away from the ship's hull. During the several weeks that the Falcon was in their care, Jowdrrl studied the freighter closely and discovered several weaknesses. Dryanta, a pilot, helped her devise improvements, and the two made several modifications to the ship's systems.

As the cockpits of YT-1300 freighters were offset to starboard and allowed very little visibility to aft and to port, Jowdrrl covered the viewports of the Falcon loading hatches and quad laser cannon turrets with custom-fitted optical transducer panels. The nearly transparent sensors routed their output to flatscreen displays in the cockpit, which eliminated most of the ship's blind spots. One day before the final test of Lumpawarrump's hrrtayyk, Jowdrrl and Dryanta worked through the night in order to finish their modifications, and they had less than one hour of work left to do the next day when Mallatobuck informed them that Chewbacca was returning to the Falcon in a rush to depart the planet. He had just learned that Solo had been taken prisoner in the Koornacht Cluster by the Duskhan League&mdash;the Yevethan government that had recently come into conflict with the New Republic, the Rebel Alliance's successor state&mdash;and he had cut his son's hrrtayyk short in order to honor his life debt and mount a rescue attempt.

Jowdrrl and Dryanta worked to complete their task and render the ship spaceworthy, but Chewbacca arrived sooner than they anticipated. He was furious that the ship was not ready for flight, but Jowdrrl and Mallatobuck managed to calm him down. As his wife and son left to prepare his things, Jowdrrl showed Chewbacca the modifications she had made, and he grudgingly approved of them. She then noted some other problems that she had not had time to fix and suggested further improvements he could make himself in the future. When Chewbacca praised her technical knowledge, she asked if he would accept her as a partner on his rescue mission. He refused and initiated the ship's preflight procedure, but when Jowdrrl looked out the viewport and noted that Dryanta and Shoran were standing on the landing platform and wearing hunting bandoliers, Chewbacca snarled and rushed outside, demanding to know what was going on. Mallatobuck presented to him the rest of his crew, and although a stubborn Chewbacca was not prepared to risk anyone's life but his own, Shoran and Dryanta assured him that all three of his cousins were coming along willingly. Jowdrrl continued the Falcon preflight procedure, and Chewbacca relented to his cousins. After they joined Jowdrrl inside the Falcon, Lumpawarrump arrived and asked to come along, hoping that he could prove his worth to Chewbacca and pass his hrrtayyk at his father's side. Chewbacca accepted him, and, with his strike team assembled, took the Falcon away from Kashyyyk.

Into the Koornacht Cluster
The strike team needed specialized supplies and information on the reclusive Duskhan League. Accordingly, their first stop was Esau's Ridge, a private smuggler's sanctuary on the planet Tholatin open only to elite veterans of the trade. After they made planetfall, Chewbacca instructed Jowdrrl and Lumpawarrump to remain inside the ship and not venture out into the dangerous port. Chewbacca visited the information broker Formayj, who required several days to gather information on the Koornacht Cluster. While the Wookiees waited, they tested and installed a firecracker mine launcher and a hull-cutting ring in place of the Falcon escape pods. Jowdrrl also installed auto-tracking fire controllers for the quad turrets in the ship's cockpit and helped Lumpawarrump practice his fighting skills. After they had been at the ridge for a week, Formayj acquired and sold to Chewbacca a navigational map of the Koornacht Cluster, a recording of an address made to the New Republic Senate by the Yevethan Viceroy Nil Spaar, and several other intelligence documents that provided data on the Yevetha. The information had come from the clandestine New Republic Intelligence agency Alpha Blue, who had become aware of the Wookiees' mission and were covertly working to support it. Inside the Falcon, Chewbacca gathered the others and played a forty-hour-old recording of Spaar addressing members of the New Republic on the HoloNet's Channel 81. The planet N'zoth was visible in the recording's background, and it became the Wookiees' destination as they lifted off from Tholatin.

With Lumpawarrump below her, Jowdrrl sat in the Falcon upper quad turret as the freighter reached the outskirts of the N'zoth system. In the cockpit, Chewbacca observed a number of ships orbiting N'zoth and recognized the Executor-class Star Dreadnought Pride of Yevetha from the earlier recording. After he calculated the orbital data required to micro-jump to within one thousand meters of the Star Destroyer, he called everyone into the cockpit to study new data that had just been sent to him by Formayj: a New Republic Fleet Intelligence assault plan for an Executor-class Star Dreadnought that included marked locations of cell blocks and points on the hull that could effectively be breached. Jowdrrl then returned to the quad batteries, this time with Dryanta at her side, and Shoran launched a string of firecracker mines as the Falcon executed its micro-jump. It emerged from hyperspace off the Star Destroyer's starboard bow, with the cronau radiation produced by its jump masked by light and radiation from the exploding mines. The sensors of the Yevethan defense grid were overwhelmed by the explosions, which allowed Chewbacca to pilot the Falcon inside the Pride of Yevetha shields and launch the remaining mines. Yevethan starfighters pursued them, but Jowdrrl and Dryanta opened fire from the quad batteries. At least one fighter was destroyed.

After Chewbacca landed the freighter on the Star Destroyer's hull, Jowdrrl was surprised to see the Yevethan fighters stop firing on them. Chewbacca instructed her to cease firing herself, and, after the hull-cutting ring burned through the side of the Star Destroyer, charged inside the Pride of Yevetha with Shoran at his side. Lumpawarrump relived Jowdrrl in the quad turret, and she took up position guarding the Falcon hatch. She was bewildered when nine Yevethan guards walked by her location and did not notice her, and when she contacted Lumpawarrump and Dryanta on her comlink, they reported that dozens of Yevethan starfighters were similarly ignoring the Falcon. The Wookiees were ignorant of the fact that their presence was being disguised in the Force by Enara, a Fallanassi adept of the White Current who was one of Solo's fellow prisoners. Shoran was soon killed by Yevethan guards, and Chewbacca contacted Dryanta to request his assistance. Lumpawarrump raced out of the ship first, however, and insisted on accompanying Dryanta. Jowdrrl saw the determination in his eyes and did not argue; Dryanta and Lumpawarrump then left her alone with the Falcon.

Jowdrrl received no further trouble. Dryanta returned with Shoran's corpse, and Chewbacca soon after contacted Jowdrrl and instructed her to prepare the Falcon for a retrieval at a flight deck that was directly forward of its current position. She sealed the hatch and, after receiving confirmation from Chewbacca, piloted the ship to the flight deck and retrieved Solo, Lumpawarrump, and a rescued Han Solo. The Falcon then blasted off under the cover of more firecracker mines, and Chewbacca piloted it toward the New Republic Fifth Battle Group, which was stationed nearby. They were permitted to board the Intrepid after Chewbacca's Shyriiwook hails were recognized by Luke Skywalker, a friend of Solo's who was aboard the fleet carrier. Solo was taken to a bacta tank and Shoran to the ship's morgue; Skywalker and the surviving Wookiees visited Solo in the medical ward as he rested in between bacta sessions. Their presence there drew considerable attention. Chewbacca later prepared the Falcon for use in an upcoming New Republic strike against N'zoth, but Lumpawarrump&mdash;now Lumpawaroo after completing his hrrtayyk aboard the Pride of Yevetha and earning a new name&mdash;joined Solo on a medical frigate, leaving the Falcon short one crewmember. The Duskhan League was defeated in the battle, and their threat to the New Republic was ended.

A cousin's fall
In 25 ABY, Chewbacca was killed on the planet Sernpidal when its moon Dobido was drawn toward the planet as part of a military tactic employed by an extra-galactic species of religious zealots known as the Yuuzhan Vong. Six months later, a memorial service was held for the fallen warrior outside of Rwookrrorro, and Jowdrrl was among the several dozen of Chewbacca's friends and family members who came to mourn. The Wookiee Ralrracheen gave a eulogy as the group stood around a circular wooden table. After the services were completed, the table was covered with foodstuffs, and the guests ate, drank, and recalled memories of Chewbacca. Jowdrrl and several other members of her family approached Solo, who sat alone and devastated, and the Human was presented with gifts by Mallatobuck and Lumpawaroo. Lumpawaroo and his cousin Lowbacca had been selected to assume Chewbacca's life debt, and Jowdrrl and Dryanta intended to arrange a farewell feast for them before Solo and his family left Kashyyyk. Jowdrrl asked Solo when he would depart, but the Human refused the offer, as he was not yet ready to replace Chewbacca, his closest friend. Mallatobuck and Attichitcuk allowed him additional time to grieve, and Solo and his family departed Kashyyyk to continue aiding the New Reublic in its war against the Yuuzhan Vong, who were invading and attempting to conquer the galaxy.

Throughout four years of devastating warfare, the invaders laid siege to much of the galaxy and even captured the galactic capital of Coruscant. Kashyyyk remained relatively untouched, however. The Wookiee world was used as New Republic base three years in order to defend the surrounding Mid Rim, but when the Yuuzhan Vong were defeated in 29 ABY, Kashyyyk was still lush and gleaming. Seven weeks after the end of the war, Solo and his family returned to Rwookrrorro, and they were joined by Jowdrrl and a group of Chewbacca's friends and family when they visited the site of Chewbacca's funeral. After Solo plunged the lightsaber of his son Anakin, who had died two years into the war, into a fallen tree branch at the site, Jowdrrl and the other Wookiees covered the area with leaves and vines. Everyone then returned to Rwookrrorro and enjoyed a celebratory feast; there, Lumpawaroo and Lowbacca informed Solo that they would now be assuming Chewbacca's life debt. Although the Human tried to protest, he eventually began to laugh, and Jowdrrl and the other Wookiees added their voices to the expanding chorus of laughter.

Personality and traits
Jowdrrl, whose name meant "star sky" in Shyriiwook, was a chestnut-colored Wookiee and a skilled starship engineer. She was very perceptive when she analyzed starship components and was able to devise improvements to systems that were lacking. Despite her skill, she was not above recognizing the good work that others had done on ship systems. When deciding how a vessel could best operate, Jowdrrl sometimes compared its performance to a Wookiee stalking prey in the forests of Kashyyyk. In addition to speaking Shyriiwook, Jowdrrl was also fluent in the language's Thykarann dialect, which was very rich in technical vocabulary and useful for describing the workings of a starship. When given the opportunity to look after the Millennium Falcon, Jowdrrl was delighted to be able to live aboard the legendary starship.

Jowdrrl was close to her family and friends. When her friend Mallatobuck was smitten with her cousin Chewbacca, Jowdrrl worked to nurture a relationship between the two. As a young Wookiee, Jowdrrl was a giggly girl and was herself somewhat attracted to Chewbacca's cousin Dryanta. Jowdrrl had a close relationship with Chewbacca, whom she also physically resembled; the improvements she made to the Millennium Falcon were meant as a gift to Han Solo as thanks for saving Chewbacca from slavery. Like Chewbacca, Jowdrrl stubbornly followed her conscience and her own code of honor. She insisted on accompanying her cousin to the Koornacht Cluster to rescue Solo from the Duskhan League, and asserted that everyone in Chewbacca's family was responsible for his life debt to Solo. When Chewbacca refused, she ignored him and continued the preflight procedure he had begun when he left the Falcon to confront his other cousins. When the Galactic Empire occupied Kashyyyk, Jowdrrl worked with the Wookiee underground resistance movement to subvert their activities.

Behind the scenes
"In my original outline for The Black Fleet Crisis, I proposed that one of the reasons Chewbacca returned to Rwookrrorro was to find a mate, and that when the Millennium Falcon reappeared for the rescue in Book Three, it would be crewed by Chewbacca and his several wives. This was the only major story point that was vetoed by Lucasfilm, and the reason it was vetoed was that&mdash;unbeknownst to me&mdash;Chewbacca already had a family in the official Star Wars chronology."

- Michael P. Kube-McDowell, on his initial outline of Tyrant's Test

Jowdrrl was created by author Michael P. Kube-McDowell and was introduced in his 1997 novel Tyrant's Test. Jowdrrl plays a sizable role in the book, first being entrusted to take care of the Millennium Falcon and then joining Chewbacca on a mission to rescue Han Solo from the clutches of the Duskhan League. In McDowell's initial outline for the novel, Chewbacca returned to Kashyyyk to find a mate and later set out to rescue Solo in a Millennium Falcon crewed by him and his several wives. When he was told by Lucasfilm Ltd. that Chewbacca already had a family in Star Wars canon, McDowell altered the plotline to center around Chewbacca returning home to participate in his son's coming-of-age ceremony, and to feature Chewbacca's cousins rather than his wives crewing aboard the Falcon. Jowdrll has since made cameo appearances in several additional Star Wars novels, and she received her first and thus far only visual depiction in the 2000 comic book issue Star Wars: Chewbacca 1. She has also been discussed in several sourcebooks and encyclopedias.

Tyrant's Test establishes that Jowdrrl, Dryanta, and Shoran are all cousins of Chewbacca, but it does not indicate what their relationships to each other are. The 2000 novel Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial identifies Shoran as the cousin of both Jowdrrl and Dryanta, but to date, no source has elaborated on Jowdrrl and Dryanta's familial status. However, Star Wars: Chewbacca 1 sees Jowdrrl indicate that she is attracted to Dryanta.

Appearances

 * Rebel Dawn
 * Tyrant's Test
 * Star Wars: Chewbacca 1
 * Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial
 * The Unifying Force

Notes and references
Jowdrrl