Solomahal

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"Who you calling 'old,' pal?"

―Solomahal, to Covah^[src]

Solomahal, a male Lutrillian, was a general in the Grand Army of the Republic and a veteran of the Clone Wars and other conflicts. Famous for liberating the Wode and defeating the Sun Guard's 2nd Regiment, Solomahal had become a general by the time of the Clone Wars, during which he commanded a secret Galactic Republic base on Azure. In 20 BBY, Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Siri Tachi transported a unique codebreaker to Azure, but were followed by Separatist forces; Solomahal refused to surrender in the ensuing battle and was eventually captured by the Separatists. The Lutrillian prevented the codebreaker from falling into CIS hands, destroying it, and was able to escape custody and return to the line of duty.

After the close of the war and the establishment of the New Order, Solomahal became a fugitive, wanted by the Empire. The Lutrillian went into hiding, becoming a scout-for-hire operating out of the planet Tatooine; he often helped sentients escape from the Empire in Greater Javin. Solomahal was a regular in Chalmun's Cantina, and it was here where he met Tzizvvt, a secretive Brizzit treasure hunter. The two became fast friends and embarked on many adventures together.

BiographyEdit

General SolomahalEdit

"You are too cautious, Commander Kenobi. I think we can win this."

―Solomahal on Azure during the Clone Wars^[src]

A Lutrillian male, Solomahal joined Galactic Republic military forces some time before the Clone Wars, serving with distinction. He became a hero after coordinating the defeat of the Sun Guard's 2nd Regiment, a special forces group native to the planet Thyrsus, and for liberating the Wode.^[1] When the Clone Wars broke out and the Grand Army of the Republic was formed, Solomahal became a general and was given command of a secret Republic base on the planet Azure, which was of little consequence to either side in the war, and which the Republic hoped would go unnoticed. The base was quite undermanned, and every being Solomahal had under his command was constantly at work, with little respite.^[3]

Two years and five months after the First Battle of Geonosis,^[4] a trio of Jedi—Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Siri Tachi— and Senator Padmé Amidala acquired a foolproof codebreaker developed by technological expert Talesan Fry, which they hoped would help in the war effort against the Confederacy of Independent Systems. They took the object to Solomahal's base on Azure; excited by the prospect of earning more fame, he was barely able to hide his enthusiasm to the Jedi and told them of his hopes for Azure to become an important part of the turning point in the war. The Jedi, particularly Skywalker, disapproved of such optimistic talk. The Jedi stayed on the planet while attempts were made to contact the Republic and the Jedi Council, but Amidala departed; as Solomahal had no pilots to spare, she was forced to pilot her ship herself.^[3]

Just moments later, however, Solomahal learned of an impending Separatist attack on Azure; CIS forces had placed a tracking device in the codebreaker and were preparing to launch an attack on Azure's main spaceport. Solomahal alerted Coruscant; any ships that were available would be sent, though the Lutrillian knew they would be far too late. He mustered what few ships he had on Azure's surface, which were bolstered by the Jedi, who flew starfighters. Anakin Skywalker, a confident and occasionally brash young Jedi, advised Solomahal to split his forces into two groups; one, led by Skywalker himself, to act as a diversion while another waited on the surface. Although initially surprised that a commander would be giving orders to a general, Solomahal did not care that the idea was not his and implemented it.^[3]

Skywalker led an attack on the Separatist fleet, allowing Solomahal's ground-based artillery to fire on the lead CIS ship. The Separatists responded by preying on civilian ships, but using the codebreaker, Solomahal was able to anticipate the enemy's attacks and counter them when possible. Despite this, however, the general's forces were taking considerable losses, and Kenobi urged him to give the codebreaker to his best pilot and transport it offworld so it could not reach Separatist hands. The Lutrillian refused; he knew the codebreaker was all that was keeping them from being slaughtered, and he did not wish to lose his base. When the Jedi persisted in their attempts to persuade Solomahal to send the codebreaker away, he cut them off and refused to continue communicating with them. However, with Republic forces still over an hour away, the battle was lost and Solomahal's forces were overrun; finally taking the Jedi's advice, he attempted to escape with the codebreaker and transport it to a Republic-aligned world, but was captured in the process. Rather than hand over the unique technology, he destroyed it; the Separatists placed the Lutrillian in captivity, but he escaped just days later. He was given another post and continued to serve until the war's end^[3] in 19 BBY,^[4] by which point he had won many battles and become a hero.^[1]

Solomahal the spacerEdit

"You said you needed to get away; I'm taking you away. Far away."

―Solomahal, to Covah^[src]

When the Republic was dissolved and reformed as the first Galactic Empire^[5] in 19 BBY,^[4] Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader made sweeping changes to the military personnel of the former Grand Army of the Republic^[5] and established Human High Culture.^[4] As such, Solomahal became an outlaw, wanted by the Empire: his roles in the Clone Wars and other conflicts were stricken from the Imperial archives, his Republic pension was frozen, and his assets were seized. The Lutrillian veteran evaded all attempts at his arrest and became one of the Empire's Most Wanted; many suspected that he harbored sensitive information that the Empire wished to be suppressed. Additionally, scores of influential Core Worlds families sent bounty hunters after Solomahal, for reasons he kept a closely guarded secret. He fled to the Outer Rim Territories and kept his former life a secret, though many remembered him as a hero of times past.^[1]

Basing his operations out of Mos Eisley on the backwater world of Tatooine, Solomahal became a scout-for-hire, agreeing to transport beings—mostly those being persecuted by the Empire—to safe areas, for a price. Business was good, and before long he had amassed enough credits to purchase his own ship, the YV-888 freighter QuadStar. He often worked in Greater Javin, where his species' homeworld, Lutrillia, was located. Solomahal became well known in spacer and mercenary circles, and over time he became the foremost scout of the area, with an intricate knowledge of worlds ideal for hiding away from Imperials. He generally spent his free time alone, in cantinas such as Chalmun's and other taverns on the planet Gerrenthum. Solomahal claimed to have a foolproof method of entering the administrative headquarters of the Figg family, the widely hated rulers of Gerrenthum.^[1] During the Galactic Civil War, Solomahal was hired by Covah, a Nothoiin criminal wanted by the Empire, to deliver him to a safe world in Greater Javin.^[6]

At some point,^[7] Solomahal drank with a Brizzit named Tzizvvt in Chalmun's Cantina in Mos Eisley; Tzizvvt was derided by the cantina's other denizens because of his stories of long-lost treasures, but Solomahal decided to humor him and arranged a meeting. Tzizvvt claimed to be a xenoarchaeology professor native to Jandoon and told Solomahal of his quest to locate a relic known as "The Eye of the Beyonder," which he insisted held a map that would locate hordes of hidden treasures throughout the Jandoon system; to acquire it, however, he needed a ship and a crew.^[8] Afraid of being identified,^[1] the Lutrillian ended his meeting with Tzizvvt and left the cantina, telling the Brizzit he would meet with him again in several days.^[8]

Solomahal was dubious of Tzizvvt and began to investigate the Brizzit's claims; he called in a favor from Garindan, a Kubaz spy and information broker, who used a pirated HoloNet station to determine that Tzizvvt was wanted by the Empire for stealing relics on Roon and Biitu. Intrigued, Solomahal decided that the Brizzit most certainly was not a xenoarchaeology professor, but kept to his word for the meeting anyway.^[8] Several months after the Battle of Yavin, Solomahal was in Chalmun's Cantina, when the Empire announced that they were imposing a curfew on the entire Tatoo system; the old Lutrillian was one of the first to leave, but not before Ackmena the barmaid sang one last song for the night.^[2] Solomahal eventually did meet with Tzizvvt in the Brizzit's underground den in one of Mos Eisley's sewers, when he showed Solomahal several old relics and jewels he had captured in his time; Solomahal still took the Brizzit's outlandish claims with a grain of salt, but he knew that Tzizvvt was sincere about his hunt for "The Eye of the Beyonder." Even though Tzizvvt could not pay him upfront, Solomahal agreed to take him to the Jandoon system in his ship, in exchange for a cut of the profit, and the two left Tatooine and began a quest for fortune and glory.^[8]

Personality and traitsEdit

Solomahal3 — Solomahal and Ackmena in Chalmun's Cantina.

"It's a little early for surrender."

―General Solomahal^[src]

Solomahal was an eager combatant, and he constantly hoped to prove himself and earn more fame. He was a practical commander who knew how to coax the best out of his soldiers, and he was not above using ideas and plans he did not formulate himself. Solomahal was extremely stubborn; he hated to surrender and would ignore the urgings of others to do so. During the Battle of Azure Spaceport, he kept up the fight and refused to send the codebreaker away, knowing that to do so would mean that the battle would inevitably result in failure.^[3]

In his later years, Solomahal became very secretive; he had to be to ensure he was not discovered. Despite this, he was not adverse to reveling in the awe experienced by other beings when they heard the stories from his illustrious past. Confident, capable, and wise, he was regarded by many as a sort of father figure, with a quick draw and a steady piloting hand. As the Lutrillian had outlived most of his former comrades-in-arms, he was an aloof figure, usually alone and often unpredictable.^[1]

Behind the scenesEdit

"This alien has always had a military leaning. During shooting, it was known simply as 'The Colonel,' though another nickname was 'the Hare Mouse.'"

―Pablo Hidalgo^[src]

SolomahalTzizvvt — Atheloe meets with Tzizvvt.

Solomahal was originally intended to be one of two Lutrillians created as background characters for the cantina scene in 1977's Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. The character was designed by John Mollo,^[9] and his mask was sculpted by Stuart Freeborn for shooting in England.^[10] The only distinction between the two costumes was an ascot worn by one of the extras.^[11] The production team for A New Hope referred to at least one of these Lutrillians as the Colonel,^[10] and at least one as the Hare Mouse.^[12] One or both of these characters was intended to be named Ownellco.^[13] However, in Star Wars Insider 130's Rogues Gallery: The Usual Suspects: Who's Who in Mos Eisley, published in December 2011, it was retconned that both of the Lutrillians seen in A New Hope were in fact Ownellco and Atheloe.^[14]

One of the Lutrillian masks was later used in the cantina scenes in The Star Wars Holiday Special,^[15] marking Solomahal's first appearance.^[2] The character went unused and unreferenced until 1997, when the Star Wars Customizable Card Game established that he was "Solomahal, a veteran officer of the Old Republic."^[10]

Since then, Solomahal has appeared in Jude Watson's Prequel era novel Secrets of the Jedi^[3] and in two Wizards of the Coast roleplaying game supplements: Galactic Gazetteer: Hoth and the Greater Javin and Rough and Tundra.^[1]^[6] He is also the subject of a card in the Premiere set of the Jedi Knights Trading Card Game; the image used for the card resembles Ownellco, the thinner Lutrillian from A New Hope, although he does wear a scarf like Atheloe, the fatter member of the species.^[16] Star Wars fan Tim Veekhoven used Solomahal in his successful What's The Story? submission for the character of Tzizvvt. The original entry established that Solomahal had visited the planet Illna during the Clone Wars, but this did not make the final, canonical cut. Veekhoven also established Solomahal's relationship with Tzizvvt, which he based on the earlier cut of the cantina footage, which depicts Ownellco sitting by the insectoid Brizzit.^[17]