Barpotomous Drebble

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Barpotomous Drebble was a Human businessman who had a weakness for gambling and a furious temper. The owner of a tavern on the Hunter's World of Keyorin, Drebble accumulated enough wealth to live comfortably. At some point, Drebble came into contact with Lando Calrissian, an accomplished smuggler and skilled gambler. The encounter ended poorly for Drebble, and he swore vengeance on Calrissian. Drebble would clash with Calrissian several times over the following years, including an attempt to interfere in Calrissian's card game with the Baron Administrator of Cloud City, Dominic Raynor. Drebble's meddling indirectly resulted in Calrissian winning control of the Cloud City resort from Raynor. In another encounter, Drebble nearly captured Calrissian and his friend, Luke Skywalker on the planet Stenos, but Drebble's employees were unable to keep the two from escaping.

Calrissian, in his role as an undercover agent for the Rebellion, had been using Drebble's name as an alias to avoid damages to his own reputation and to lead any enemy to Drebble; however he inadvertently made a name for Drebble as a courageous champion. Thus, a short time after the Battle of Endor, a confused Drebble found himself promoted to captain and declared a hero of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Drebble's newfound status as a hero led him to leadership status on the planet Stenos. He controlled a substantial section of the Stenos capital and ruled it in the best interests of the Alliance of Free Planets, the interim government that preceded the New Republic.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Card shark 1.2 Reunion 1.3 Second chance 1.4 Hero of the Rebellion 2 Personality and traits 3 Behind the scenes 4 Appearances 5 Sources 6 Notes and references 7 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Card shark

Drebble's success as a businessman came from his large tavern on Keyorin which he owned and operated. The planet was a haven for bounty hunters and Drebble's place was a popular hangout on the hunter's world.^[1] However, Drebble's success did not mean that he spent all his time on Keyorin. Drebble was known to frequent the popular Cloud City Casino in pursuit of entertainment and wealth.^[3]

It was on Cloud City that Drebble became acquainted with Lando Calrissian.^[3] Drebble had first met Calrissian on his homeworld where he would later claim that Calrissian had cheated him.^[1] Calrissian was an accomplished sabacc player, and Drebble found himself losing a great deal to Calrissian's skills. Drebble's pride could not accept that Calrissian was a better player, and thus Drebble was convinced that Calrissian had been cheating during their games. Drebble eventually found a chance to get back at Calrissian for all his humiliating defeats.^[3]

Calrissian found himself in a high stakes game of sabacc against Baron Administrator Dominic Raynor, and Drebble seized his chance. He bribed the dealer into sneaking a skifter into the deck, throwing the game and allowing Raynor a substantial victory, winning Calrissian's prized ship, the Cobra. However, Lobot discovered the skifter and Drebble was subsequently kicked out of the resort. Drebble was not around to see Calrissian's second game with Raynor in which he won the entire Cloud City resort.^[3]

[edit] Reunion

Over the years, Drebble's anger against Calrissian seemed to grow. Drebble enjoyed venting his frustration at his subordinates, giving speeches about how much of a cheat Calrissian was.^[1] Drebble's tavern continued to bring in customers, and around 3.5 ABY, Drebble's wealth had allowed him to hire both Bossk and IG-88C as part time employees. Drebble still continued to travel off-world, and in a stroke of luck, he was surprised to see Calrissian and his friend Luke Skywalker frequenting a tavern on Stenos.^[2]

Excited at the possibility of capturing Calrissian, Drebble cried out to the denizens of the tavern, declaring that he would pay 10,000 credits to the one who captured the man who had cheated him. With the possibility of a small fortune on the line, the tavern erupted with blaster fire. Unfortunately for Drebble's plans, Skywalker's skills with a lightsaber allowed the pair to escape. Drebble's frantic insistence that someone chase after the rapidly departing Calrissian only resulted in a punch to the face from an irritated patron.^[2]

However, an ambush by Bossk and IG-88C was able to stop Calrissian from escaping, and he was put under close watch by Drebble's men. Drebble paid a hefty sum so that Calrissian could be frozen in carbonite and brought back to his homeworld. Unfortunately, due to further interference from Skywalker, Calrissian escaped from the carbon-freezing chamber untouched and outside of Drebble's grasp once again, foiling his plans.^[5]

[edit] Second chance

After Calrissian's escape, Drebble's desire for revenge seemed to escalate all the more. Drebble was still the wealthiest man on Keyorin and the illustrious bounty hunters, Bossk and a newly reprogrammed IG-88A as well as two Stenax bodyguards were kept on retainer. Drebble loved to use the hunters as an audience for his soliloquies about getting revenge on Calrissian.^[1] In a twist of fate, a short time following the Battle of Endor, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Calrissian arrived on Keyorin to negotiate with the head of state about attending the first meeting of the Alliance of Free Planets. After Han convinced the official to attend the meeting, Calrissian, Solo, and Chewbacca frequented Drebble's tavern for a drink.^[1] When the three went to pay for their drinks, Drebble had an abrupt reunion with his sworn enemy. Calrissian and company ran out the back door, and Drebble ordered his men, including Bossk and IG-88A to capture Calrissian. The chase ended when Drebble cut the group off at the Millennium Falcon.^[1]

Drebble and his two Stenax bodyguards stunned the group and dragged Calrissian to Calrissian's personal ship, the Cobra. Drebble left Solo and Chewbacca to a group of thugs led by Lemo and Sanda. Drebble planned to commandeer Calrissian's ship and bring him back to the first place that Calrissian had cheated him, Drebble's homeworld. However, when Drebble turned on the HoloNet, a special report by Mon Mothma came over the network. The report announced that Drebble was to be declared a hero of the Rebellion, promoted to Captain, and given a decoration for bravery.^[1]

Unbeknownst to Drebble, during Calrissian's time in the Rebellion, Calrissian often used Drebble's name as an alias in undercover missions, to avoid attracting unwanted attention to himself.^[6][7] The Alliance snapped up the reports of "Drebble's" exploits and declared him a hero. Drebble was shocked by the announcement, but he took to his new position with fervor. Knowing Calrissian was a member of the Alliance, Drebble released the man after Calrissian lied that he had been sent to Keyorin to give Drebble his commendations.^[1]

Unfortunately for Captain Drebble, Lemo and Sanda's gang double-crossed the businessman believing that he had possession of an expensive artifact called the Dancing Goddess. Calrissian gave Drebble a plan of attack, and Drebble pulled off an elaborate bait-and-switch, eliminating Lemo and Sanda's gang. As a reward for Drebble's "bravery", Calrissian presented him with the Dancing Goddess much to Lemo and Sanda's dismay.^[1]

[edit] Hero of the Rebellion

Within a short period, Drebble used his influence as a Rebel Hero to become the leader of the Stenos capital.^[4] The people of Stenos greatly admired Drebble and did everything in their power to protect their beloved leader. Drebble's dealings on Stenos had turned his hair white, most likely from the stress of his newfound responsibility to Stenos. Drebble had also taken to wearing an elaborate military uniform complete with cape.^[4]

During the Nagai-Tof War, Lando Calrissian found himself on a mission to Stenos to reclaim the Dancing Goddess. The statue had been revealed to be part of an elaborate machine on the planet Godo that kept the atmosphere of Godo fit to support the native Godoans. The absence of the Dancing Goddess had caused the machine to stop working, and the Godoans were slowly dying. Calrissian was hesitant to take Drebble's award away from him, but the lives of an entire species hung in the balance.^[4]

When Calrissian and Chewbacca arrived on Stenos to see Drebble, Drebble's loyal citizens misinterpreted the situation, believing Calrissian had arrived to harm their leader. They opened fire on the pair, and Calrissian and Chewbacca were forced to flee, eventually coming face to face with Drebble. Drebble recognized Calrissian and Chewbacca and brought them into his headquarters. When Calrissian asked for the statue, Drebble's notorious temper almost got the better of him, but he recognized that if he insisted on keeping it, he would no longer deserve it.^[4]

Drebble allowed Calrissian to take the statue back to Godo where it helped repair the machine and save the Godoans.^[4]

[edit] Personality and traits

Barpotomous Drebble was a large man who enjoyed the finer things. He had a distinct sense of style and displayed a long mohawk throughout his career, even when his hair had finally turned white.^[4] As a business man on Keyorin he seemed to be concerned with being as comfortable as possible, wearing simple sandals and long purple robe adorned with a heavy gold chain. Drebble was easily offended, and found it hard to forgive transgressions against him.^[1] He also had a furious temper and was often seen yelling when in a particularly foul mood. However, for all his character flaws, Drebble proved himself a shrewd businessman, using his tavern to set himself up as the wealthiest being on Keyorin.^[5]

Drebble's attitude and his general feeling toward life and the people around him abruptly changed after his appointment to captain. He left his tavern on Keyorin and took to living up to his newfound status in his new home on Stenos. He found himself more in control of his temper and placed himself responsible for the citizens of the Stenos capital, eventually becoming leader of the entire city. With his newfound outlook on life, Drebble's sense of style changed as well. He wore a full uniform complete with a cape, ammo belt, and heavy boots.^[4]

[edit] Behind the scenes

Drebble was created by Mary Jo Duffy for use in the Marvel Star Wars' comic, Star Wars 71: Return to Stenos as an adversary to Lando Calrissian. He appeared in the following issue, where Calrissian was able to escape from Drebble's schemes. In two later issues in the Marvel comic series, Star Wars 75: Tidal and Star Wars 79: The Big Con, Calrissian used Drebble's name as an alias, in an effort to get Drebble into trouble. However, these efforts backfired, and in Star Wars 85: The Hero, Drebble was declared a hero of the Rebel Alliance. This caused the character to ally himself with the Alliance of Free Planets, and during his last appearance in Star Wars 99: Touch of the Goddess, he proved himself to be a friend of Calrissian.

After the end of the Marvel run, Drebble went unreferenced until the 2000 short comic, Lady Luck, in Star Wars Tales 3. The authors of the comic, Rich Handley and Darko Macan, revealed Drebble's first name of Barpotomous. This name was also referenced in the Databank entry for IG-88, but is misspelled "Barpotamus" in the Databank entry for Bossk. During the short comic, Drebble is seen drinking what looks like Colt 45 in the tale (seen to the right), a beverage advertised by Billy Dee Williams.

In 2008, Rich Handley once again referenced Drebble in his Star Wars Hyperspace short story, Lando Calrissian: Idiot's Array.

[edit] Appearances

• Lady Luck
• Lando Calrissian: Idiot's Array (Mentioned only)
• Star Wars 71: Return to Stenos (First appearance)
• Star Wars 72: Fool's Bounty
• Star Wars 75: Tidal (Name used as an alias by Lando Calrissian)
• Star Wars 79: The Big Con (Name used as an alias by Lando Calrissian)
• Star Wars 85: The Hero
• Star Wars 99: Touch of the Goddess

[edit] Sources

• The Essential Guide to Characters
• The New Essential Guide to Characters
•  Bossk in the Databank (Barpotomous misspelled Barpotamus)
•  IG-88 in the Databank
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

•  Barpotomous Drebble in the Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia