Cornelius Evazan

"He doesn't like you.''" "I'm sorry." "''I don't like you, either."

- Cornelius Evazan and Luke Skywalker

Doctor Cornelius Evazan was a human male from the planet Alsakan who was a promising cosmetic surgeon until he became gripped by madness and began practicing "creative surgery" on his patients, leaving his victims horrifically disfigured. After information concerning his cruel medical experiments came to light, an encounter with a bounty hunter left his face hideously scarred. The Aqualish thug Ponda Baba rescued Evazan from the hunter, following which the two formed an uneasy partnership and began smuggling spice for the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Wanted men, Evazan assumed the alias of "Roofoo," while Baba became known as "Sawkee." In the Holy City on Jedha, the fugitive cyborgist used his ghastly medical techniques to produce an order of servants known as the Decraniated.

Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, Evazan and Baba were patrons in the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine. When a drunk Baba decided to pick a fight with a local farmboy named Luke Skywalker, Evazan quickly escalated the conflict, causing Skywalker's guardian, a hermit named Obi-Wan Kenobi, to intervene. The pirates drew their blaster pistols on the wizened man&mdash;in secret one of the few remaining Jedi Masters&mdash;but Kenobi used his lightsaber to slash Evazan across the chest and sever Baba's right arm before they could fire. Evazan tried to use his medical training to reattach Baba's arm but failed, nearly killing the Aqualish in the process.

Fugitive surgeon
"I met him once, at a banquet. Though he surely does not remember. He was different, then. Less&hellip;mad. Not yet disfigured. But still, a killer."

- Jerriko, on Dr. Cornelius Evazan

Hailing from Alsakan, a planet located in the galaxy's Core Worlds, Doctor Cornelius Evazan was a promising surgeon who operated a cosmetic surgery clinic in Pons Ora, a small settlement located on the remote desert world of Abafar. However, he became corrupted by madness during his training and began practicing "creative surgery" on his patients without the assistance of droids, rearranging the limbs of hundreds of victims and leaving them horrifically scarred.

After becoming notorious for his cruel medical experiments, Evazan's own face was hideously disfigured in a bounty hunter's attempt to destroy him, though he was saved by Ponda Baba, an Aqualish thug. The two partnered together and became pirates, beginning to smuggle spice for the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Successful at their trade, they became wanted men, and Evazan was sentenced to death in twelve star systems. However, there was no love lost in their relationship, and Baba even contemplated turning in Evazan to collect the bounty on the doctor's head before realizing that their ongoing partnership would be more profitable. Still, the two considered each other friends despite their differences.

Creating the Decraniated
"He's a sadist, a killer, a twister of flesh&hellip;''" "''&hellip;the most evil being in the galaxy."

- Tam Posla and Caysin Bog describe Evazan

Adopting the respective aliases of "Roofoo" and "Sawkee," Evazan and Baba committed a rash of crimes while visiting Milvayne. Tam Posla, an interstellar lawman representing the Milvayne Authority, began investigating the matter when similar reports of kidnapping, forced servitude, and the surgical alteration of victims came from the desert moon of Jedha. Indeed, the pair had taken up residence in Jedha's Holy City, where the fugitive surgeon used his ghastly medical techniques to produce an order of servants known as the Decraniated. Evazan transformed wounded or incapacitated victims of the local insurgency with cybernetic technology to make them as subservient as droids, using the procedure to strip them of their identities before selling them into unwilling servitude.

Though taken off the case by his superior officer, Posla voyaged well beyond his jurisdiction and, determined to bring the heinous criminals to justice, became a bounty hunter. Meanwhile, on Jedha, Evazan also pieced together Caysin Bog, a high-gravity humanoid blown apart in an insurgency strike, with surgical work matching that which he performed upon the Decraniated. While on their way off-world, the spacers bumped into Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor while walking through a busy street, after which Evazan warned them to watch themselves with Baba by his side.

Cantina encounters
"One moment. You're not giving him narcotics now, are you? Today?''" "«No. Because Solo dropped cargo. I have nothing to give. Why?»" "''Greedo the Rodian is making a play for Solo. Ponda Baba and Evazan are backing it. I thought, for a moment, of an Evazan blitzed to the gills, who would make a violent situation only more violent, and was relieved he shall be without. Though saying it out loud, I'm not so certain. Which Evazan is better? Medicated, or not?"

- Lirin Car'n and Muftak

Evazan and Baba departed the city prior to its destruction by the Galactic Empire's Death Star battlestation and traveled to the planet Tatooine, where they resumed their illegal medical experiments. Due to his dumb and dangerous behavior, no one wanted to sell Evazan anodyne chemical compounds to help him cope with his injuries. As a result, he made a semi-regular arrangement with Muftak; the doctor would give him a thousand credits to pay the smuggler Han Solo for his drugs, minus not-inconsiderable shipping and handling charges. Upon delivery of the illicit substance, Evazan would then pay the Talz a completion bonus and hazard stipend. While the arrangment was meant to be discrete, everyone knew about it. Despite this, the Baba and Evazan agreed to back the Rodian bounty hunter Greedo's play against Solo. Baba and Evazan were patrons at a cantina in Mos Eisley spaceport shortly before the Battle of Yavin. While there, a Trandoshan bounty hunter known as Bossk entered the establishment to question its bartender, Wuher, about the location of the rogue Imperial astromech droid 261. Baba approached him from behind with his blaster drawn, but Evazan held him back, allowing Bossk to depart without incident.

Later, the doctor was talking to Kabe, a Chadra-Fan female who frequented the cantina, when a drunk Baba, bored and looking for excitement, decided to pick a fight with Luke Skywalker, a young farmboy who had taken a seat to the right of them at the bar. Assuming Skywalker would be an easy target, Evazan quickly escalated the argument despite the boy's youthful apprehension. This caught the attention of nearby Obi-Wan Kenobi, Skywalker's guardian, who offered to buy the pair drinks to ease tensions.

However, paying little heed to the old man, Evazan angrily hurled the young farmboy into a nearby table, and, ignoring Wuher's protest, the pirates drew their blaster pistols. Given no other choice, the elderly Kenobi&mdash;in secret one of the few remaining Jedi Masters&mdash;ignited his lightsaber and cut a deep slash in Evazan's chest, causing the doctor to fall back against the bar screaming in pain. Kenobi then used his lightsaber to sever Baba's right arm, effectively disarming the pair before they could fire their weapons, Evazan supporting the injured Aqualish on the cantina floor.

Following the attack, those present in the cantina briefly turned to see what had transpired before returning to their business, while a squad of Mos Eisley's Imperial sandtroopers momentarily investigated the violence. The pair lurched outside of the establishment, Baba's severed arm held in Evazan's hands. He later tried to reattach Baba's arm using his medical training but ended up nearly killing his Aqualish partner in the process when the procedure failed. Skywalker later recalled his encounter with the pair while training with his own lightsaber in the Temple of Eedit on Devaron.

Personality and traits
Prior to being gripped by madness, Doctor Cornelius Evazan was a promising surgeon, though he later gained notoriety for the cruelty he inflicted upon his patients, while his reputation as a smuggler and murderer also made him many enemies across the galaxy. He and Ponda Baba enjoyed brawling and gunning down defenseless beings, and Evazan was quick to antagonize those who crossed him, as demonstrated by his brushes with Cassian Andor on Jedha and Luke Skywalker in Mos Eisley.

Evazan was boastful of his infamy, openly informing Skywalker in the Mos Eisley Cantina that he had the death sentence on twelve systems. After Baba began to bully Skywalker, Evazan was quick to escalate the argument, even going so far as to threaten Skywalker before Obi-Wan Kenobi interceded. Ignoring the old man's attempt to smooth the rising tension, the doctor resorted to violence, shoving the farmboy aside and drawing his blaster pistol, which ended poorly for both Evazan and Baba.

A human male, Evazan had light skin and stood at a height of 1.77 meters. His eyes were colored hazel, though his right eye was blind and the flesh around it severely scarred, while his nose looked as if it had barely survived an unfortunate encounter with a meat shredder. Due to his wounds, Evazan lived in a constant state of pain and anger and relied on a constant, alternating barrage of narcotics and physical violence to mitigate his perpetual agony. His hair was colored brown with patches of gray, though he showed signs of balding, and stubble covered the lower half of his face. Evazan had foul-smelling breath.

Equipment
"No blasters! No blasters!"

- Wuher, as Cornelius Evazan draws his blaster pistol

Evazan wore a long-sleeved khaki shirt underneath a brown vest, a pair of dark-brown pants, and a pair of black boots. His black belt had a golden buckle and a holster for his SE-14C blaster pistol When operating, Evazan wore scrubs and used a variety of medical instruments.

Conception and portrayal
Cornelius Evazan first appeared in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, in which he was played by Alfie Curtis. The original 1976 novelization of Star Wars, ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster, described the character as a "short, grubby-looking human" with a surprisingly deep voice. This story's version of events, which closely matches the film's revised fourth draft, describes Obi-Wan Kenobi as cutting off Evazan's arm, rather than Ponda Baba's, with Evazan retreating into the crowd without a word following the fight. The Evazan character dates back as early as The Star Wars: Rough Draft from May 1974.

Star Wars creature effects make-up artist Nick Maley was displeased with Evazan's distinctive facial prosthetic. He felt that the prosthetic's texture did not work well with that of Curtis' face. Evazan also appears alongside Baba in the 2016 Anthology Series film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, a direct prequel to the events of A New Hope. In Rogue One, the character was portrayed by Michael Smiley, who is credited as "Dr. Evazan." Rogue One writer Gary Whitta disagreed with Evazan and Baba's inclusion in the film, opining that he "thought having Evazan and Walrus Man was a little too much. You have to reign in that instinct to go back and put things in just because you loved them when you were a kid."

Character development
The character's name originates in Star Wars Legends storytelling, as he was first referred to as "Roofoo" in Brian Daley's 1981 Star Wars radio dramatization. The name "Evazan" originated in Galaxy Guide 1: A New Hope, a 1989 Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game supplement written by Michael Stern and Grant S. Boucher. "Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba," a short story written by Kenneth C. Flint for the 1995 anthology book Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina, created the name "Cornelius" as an alias of Evazan's, while The Official Star Wars Fact File 51 from 2002 was the first source to establish the character's full name as Cornelius Evazan. The original StarWars.com Databank later established "Roofoo" as another of Evazan's aliases.

In the new Star Wars canon, Cornelius Evazan's name was used in the mobile card game Star Wars: Force Collection, which initially launched on September 4, 2013. Although the launch of Force Collection predates the Star Wars canon reset of April 25, 2014, Lucasfilm Story Group member Leland Chee confirmed that the game was kept updated to fit with canon. In addition, Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide, written by Pablo Hidalgo and published in 2016, established "Roofoo" as an alias.

Inconsistencies
Both the Cornelius Evazan and Ponda Baba StarWars.com Databank entries claim that Evazan died following his confrontation with Obi-Wan Kenobi, but the 2016 Star Wars Character Encyclopedia: Updated and Expanded, written by Pablo Hidalgo, states that Evazan survived the encounter. The short story "The Secrets of Long Snoot," included in the 2017 anthology From a Certain Point of View, also presented Evazan as surviving his encounter with Kenobi. Updated and Expaned also states that Evazan is 1.77 meters tall, while the character's Databank entry provides a height of 1.7 meters. This article presents the information from Star Wars Character Encyclopedia: Updated and Expanded and "The Secrets of Long Snoot" as more recent sources.

Several sources, including the Mos Eisley Cantina and Tatooine StarWars.com Databank entries and the junior novel The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure, mistakenly identify Evazan as an alien.

Appearances

 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
 * Rogue One: A Star Wars Story novelization
 * Star Wars: Rogue One: A Junior Novel
 * Bounty Hunt
 * Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
 * Star Wars: A New Hope Cinestory Comic
 * Star Wars: A New Hope junior novelization
 * A New Hope Little Golden Book
 * Star Wars: The Original Trilogy – A Graphic Novel
 * The Original Trilogy Stories
 * Star Wars: Heroes Path
 * The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure
 * Doctor Aphra 15: Remastered, Part II
 * Doctor Aphra 18: Remastered, Part V
 * The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure
 * Doctor Aphra 15: Remastered, Part II
 * Doctor Aphra 18: Remastered, Part V
 * Doctor Aphra 15: Remastered, Part II
 * Doctor Aphra 18: Remastered, Part V