Ody Mandrell

Warning: This infobox is missing the following parameters: parents, pronouns, children, siblings, partners, families, feathers

"I've seen better parts at a waste dump."

―Ody Mandrell taunts an opponent —

Listen (file info)^[src]

Ody Mandrell was a male Er'Kit who was a Podracer born and raised on the dusty world of Tatooine.

Biography

One of the youngest Podracers to participate in the sport, Ody was barely more than a teenager. His naturally resilient skin, an inherent characteristic of nearly all Er'Kit, allowed him to walk away from most of his crashes nearly unscathed—and Mandrell experienced more crashes than most. The quintessential daredevil, Mandrell raced not for money or fame, but simply for the adrenaline rush. He relished mind-boggling risk, and constantly flew at top speed, edging around corners by the seat of his pants as he whooped and laughed like a madman.

Mandrell was a powerful contender in the midrace battles that frequented Podracing. With his powerful Exelbrok XL 5115 engine, he could deliver serious damage to other racers, and it never seemed to bother him that they might be better pilots. Fans enjoyed his bravado, and he was a favorite among the spectators of the Boonta Eve Classic. During the race in which Anakin Skywalker won his freedom, Ody's Podracer was disabled in the pits when the droid DUM-4 was sucked into one massive engine and spat out the other end. However, he was able to repair the engine after the race, and was soon back on the Podracing circuit.

During the Galactic Games of 26 BBY, Ody Mandrell crashed his podracer in an illegal Caves race on the planet Euceron. Fourteen-year-old Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker competed in and won that race, but he had to push his own engines as hard as he dared in order to outrun Mandrell's crash smoke so it wouldn't blind him. Other competitors included Hekula (son of Sebulba), Aldar Beedo, Gasgano, Elan Mak, "Scorch" Zanales, and Will Neluenf.^[3]

Mandrell dominated on Dethro's Revenge on Ord Ibanna and was the track's favorite there.

Ody remained on Tatooine, where he worked in the old Mos Espa Grand Arena, now a Swoop racing arena after the Galactic Empire banned Podracing. He was employed by Ulda alongside his previous competitor, Teemto Pagalies. In 4 ABY, several months after the Battle of Endor, Luke Skywalker came to the arena seeking information on his father, Anakin. Ody and Teemto recalled the events of the Boonta Eve Classic for the young Skywalker and pointed him to Anakin's friend W. Wald for more information.^[4]

In 8 ABY, when Han and Leia Organa Solo appeared at the Arena looking for a fast transport to catch the runaway Kitster Chanchani Banai and recover the grass painting Killik Twilight, it was Ody who prepared Han with Rao's swoop bike, which was basically a Podracer engine with a seat attached.^[5]

Behind the scenes

Mandrell's voice in Star Wars Episode I: Racer and Star Wars: Racer Revenge was provided by Bob Bergen.

In the Episode I novel, Ody Mandrell returned to the 32 BBY podrace after his pit stop accident, but he crashed when his podracer over-banked.

During development, a character was created called "Ody Mysturall", in which looks like a creature with a round-shaped body with a face on his body, and having long arms and legs. It is possible that this was Mandrell's original design.

Not to mention, in some concept art, Mandrell was labeled as Boles Roor, another racer who appears in the film.