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Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
Ohwun De Maal was a Duros male who worked as a freelance flight instructor and occasional smuggler. He owned and operated several docking bays in Mos Eisley spaceport on the planet Tatooine with his spouse, Chachi De Maal. The couple often used false names when involved in shady business, with Ohwun also using the names Ellor Madak and Ellorrs Madak.
In 0 BBY, Ohwun and Chachi were talking in Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina in Mos Eisley when a group including moisture farmer Luke Skywalker and Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi entered. The pair looked over when the newcomers got into an altercation at the bar, and not long after Skywalker and Kenobi departed Mos Eisley aboard the Millennium Falcon, a YT-1300 light freighter that had been parked in one of the De Maals' docking bays.
Biography[]
Docking bay duo[]
The De Maals owned and operated several docking bays together.
Ohwun De Maal was a Duros male married to fellow Duros Chachi De Maal. Together, the couple owned and operated a number of docking bays in Mos Eisley[1] spaceport on the planet Tatooine.[4] He also worked as a freelance flight instructor and occasional smuggler,[2] making regular deep-space runs with Chachi that connected through Mos Eisley.[5] The couple often used false names when working on shadier operations,[1] with Ohwun also being known as Ellor Madak[4] or Ellorrs Madak[2] and Chachi going by Baniss Keeg.[4]
In 0 BBY,[6] Captain Han Solo and his co-pilot, Chewbacca, stored their YT-1300 light freighter, the Millennium Falcon, in Docking Bay 94,[3] one of the De Maals' Mos Eisley bays.[7] While the freighter was parked there,[3] Ohwun and Chachi were having a heated discussion[8] in Durese[9] while leaning against a wall[10] in one of the booths closest to the entrance of Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina in Mos Eisley[4] when the local moisture farmer Luke Skywalker entered the cantina with the Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO.[3]
Chaos in the cantina[]
- "Greedo's gun was out its holster."
- ―Ohwun De Maal provides a statement on Greedo's death
When Skywalker and Kenobi got into an altercation with the criminals Doctor Cornelius Evazan and Ponda Baba at the bar, the two Duros looked over at the commotion[3] but soon returned to talking jive between themselves.[4] Kenobi and Skywalker then hired Solo to take them to the planet Alderaan, with Ohwun having moved to sit at a table with[3] the Givin smuggler Elis Helrot[4] by the time Skywalker and Kenobi left the cantina.[3]
The De Maals witnessed a fight at the cantina.
Solo then shot and killed the bounty hunter Greedo in a booth in front of where Ohwun was sat and left the cantina soon after. He and his passengers then had to make a hasty exit from Docking Bay 94 in the Falcon after a blaster fight with a group of Imperial stormtroopers in the docking bay.[3] Ohwun was later questioned about Greedo's death and stated that bounty hunter's blaster had been out its holster at the time of the incident,[11] which was true.[3]
Personality and traits[]
Ohwun De Maal had red eyes and blue-green skin.[3]
Equipment[]
While in the cantina, Ohwun wore a silvery white flight suit.[3] He also owned a blaster pistol.[12]
Behind the scenes[]
Filming and costume[]
The Duros masks were made for supplemental shots for the cantina sequence.
Ohwun De Maal first appeared in the original trilogy film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope,[3] which was released on May 25, 1977.[13] Modelmaker Jon Berg portrayed both Ohwun and Chachi[14] uncredited at different points,[3] with Kim Falkinburg also portraying the character,[15] during a series of supplemental shots filmed for the cantina sequence[16] on a sound stage in Dovington's Hollywood studio between January 24 and 25, 1977.[17]
The two characters' unarticulated, slip-on masks[18] were created from a single sculpt[19] by Phil Tippett[18] that was then cast twice[19] in latex. The dimensions of the masks were 20 inches by 12 inches by 12 inches (51 centimeters by 31 centimeters by 31 centimeters), and they had a slit in the back for ease of use that could be sealed by a strip of Velcro on the interior. The inside of the mask's head was stuffed with foam for support. The eyes were made of plastic and finished with speckled red paint,[20] with the characters becoming known as "Goggle-Eyes" on set.[19]
One of the two Duros masks ended up in the collection of Tippett and, at one point, had sympathetic stabilization carried out on it by Tom Spina Designs, who internally patched areas where the latex had split and created a custom support to preserve its shape. In 2016, the mask was in overall good condition with some minor wear and sold at auction for $55,000.[20] Only Chachi was fitted with alien hands, with Ohwun visibly having gloved human hands in the film.[19] The blooper reel for A New Hope shows that on one occasion the actor playing Chachi jabbed the chest of the actor playing Ohwun too hard and broke one of the alien glove's fingers.[17]
Ohwun De Maal's spacesuit was previously used in Escape from the Planet of the Apes.
Ohwun's spacesuit costume was a studio hand-me-down[8] that was one of several that were originally made in silver for the 1966 Jerry Lewis film Way…Way Out. The suits were then reused in the 1967 film In Like Flint and in a two-part episode of The Green Hornet television series titled "Invasion from Outer Space," which aired on March 17 of that year. On September 26, 1969, they appeared in "Pheasant Under Glass," an episode of the Get Smart television series, and then in 1971, they were then painted white and used in the film Escape from the Planet of the Apes. Finally, before Star Wars, one was used in a sketch called "Planet of the Shapes" on The Bob Hope Show on September 13, 1971.[21] For A New Hope, Berg wore the suit with a pair of knock-off white Adidas sneakers, and two other cantina patrons, often referred to as the "spacemen," also wore the same suits. An alternate Duros costume consisting of a silver jacket, black pants, and the alien gloves was also used at one stage.[16]
Naming[]
Gentle Giant Studios produced a bust of Ohwun De Maal.
In the current Star Wars canon, Ohwun was first identified in the mobile card game Star Wars: Force Collection,[1] which initially launched in 2013. Although the launch of Force Collection predates[22] the Star Wars canon reset of 2014,[13] Lucasfilm Story Group member Leland Chee confirmed that the game was kept updated to fit with canon.[23] The 2016 reference book Star Wars: Complete Locations then introduced the name "Ellor Madak" for the character,[4] and the product page for the 2023 bust of the character produced by Gentle Giant Studios used the name "Ellorrs Madak."[2]
All three names originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity,[24] where Ohwun De Maal was first mentioned in the 1993 West End Games Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game supplement Galaxy Guide 7: Mos Eisley, which was written by Martin Wixted but did not associate the name with the Duros seen in A New Hope.[25] A card in the 1995 "Premiere Limited" expansion of the Decipher Star Wars Customizable Card Game then identified the film character as "Ellorrs Madak."[26] "The University of Sanbra Guide to Intelligent Life: The Duros," an article published in Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Roleplaying Game magazine Star Wars Gamer 2[24] in February 2001,[27] established that Ohwun De Maal and Ellorrs Madak were one and the same,[24] with the spelling of "Ellor Madak" introduced by James Luceno's 2004 reference book Inside the Worlds of Star Wars Trilogy.[28]
Appearances[]
- Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope (First appearance)
- Star Wars: A New Hope junior novelization
- The Adventures of Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight
- Star Wars: A New Hope Cinestory Comic
- Star Wars (2015) 1 (Variant cover only)
