Haydel Goravvus was a Near-Human male senator who represented the Outer Rim ecumenopolis Taris in the Galactic Senate of the Republic and played a crucial part in the Taris Resistance during the Mandalorian Wars. Born to a Human father and a Hamadryas mother, he was the first senator from Taris, and was placed into office in 3,966 BBY by the efforts of Lhosan Industries chairman Jervo Thalien, as a means of ensuring protection of Taris' resource worlds.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life and career 1.2 The Mandalorian Wars 2 Personality and traits 3 Behind the scenes 4 Appearances 5 Sources 6 Notes and references 7 External links 7.1 In other languages

BiographyEdit

Early life and careerEdit

Haydel Goravvus was born in the decades before the Mandalorian Wars as the son of a Human businessman and a Hamadryas serving girl. During his youth, Goravvus was not able to receive schooling, and he spent his time at a swoop bike factory owned by Lhosan Industries on the Outer Rim ecumenopolis Taris, in a city called Machineville. While Goravvus was still a teenager, the workers at the factory went on strike, and Goravvus, who needed some money, accepted a bribe from the managers of the factory and helped end the strike. This action caused Lhosan Industries' management to hire Goravvus as a calumniator. Over the next thirty years, he traveled the galaxy on behalf of Lhosan Industries, settling various affairs involving the company, utilizing mostly illegal or semi-legal methods in order to achieve his goals.^[1]

In 3,966 BBY^[4] Goravvus helped Jervo Thalien, the Lhosan Industries chairman—as well as other corporations—bribe various senators in order to secure admission of Taris into the Galactic Republic.^[5] As a result, when Goravvus ran for office, Thalien and the corporations on Taris which they had bribed backed his bid,^[3] making him the first senator of the Taris sector. Many citizens of the xenophobic Upper City of Taris were not pleased with Goravvus securing the position, but the senator did not care about their opinion.^[1] However, during his tenure, Goravvus became more interested in the people of Taris rather than the bribes he received,^[3] and began to openly oppose the interests of the companies that put him in power, including Thalien, who was a friend of his.^[1]

The Mandalorian WarsEdit

By 3,964 BBY, Goravvus faced a losing battle in trying to convince business interests such as Lhosan Industries to remain on Taris despite widespread crime in the Lower City which threatened to spread upward. He was involved in negotiating tax breaks with Thalien,^[2] but expressed hope that the Jedi and Constable Noana Sowrs would take major steps toward eliminating the crimewave. However, he went missing during the massive rioting that befell Taris in the weeks following Zayne Carrick's second escape from the Jedi Tower.

He had, in fact, gone to meet with Thalien in hopes of convincing him to return to Taris. When Thalien refused, Goravvus threatened to reveal the shady dealings his company had had with the senator. Before he could follow through on this, the Mandalorians attacked Taris. The senator returned to Taris and met up with the Taris Resistance. While negotiating an alliance with the Hidden Beks gang, he was tracked down by Zayne and Marn Hierogryph, who had been hired by Thalien to find him. Unknown to them, Thalien had placed a bounty on his old friend, and had Gryph unwittingly smuggle a powerful bomb into the the Resistance base, in hopes of silencing the senator before he could make his accusations. The bomb proved to be a dud due to Shel Jelavin's failed attempt to kill Zayne Carrick, however, and Goravvus made Thalien an offer: use his company's resources to provide aid and supplies to the front lines.

Later, after discovering that Cassus Fett had set up a base in the city's Jedi Tower, Goravvus helped plan an attack that would blow the tower and hopefully take Fett with it. Fett's departure made the mission pointless, though, and the Resistance headquarters was ambushed by the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. After Taris ultimately fell to the Mandalorians, Goravvus managed to escape to the Republic space. There the exiled Senator became a popular figure espousing the cause of people living on occupied worlds and providing funds for private efforts to rescue refugees.^[1]

Personality and traitsEdit

Aside from Basic he could speak Ryl, High Galactic, Huttese, Gamorrese, Hamadryas, Ithorese and Kedorzhan languages.^[1]

Behind the scenesEdit

Haydel Goravvus was created by John Jackson Miller, the writer of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comic series. The character first appeared in the series' first issue, although he was not identified until the release of the trade paperback for the Commencement story arc. In The Taris Holofeed: Siege Edition, which appeared in the fifteenth issue, his name was spelled "Gorravus." Miller stated in his production notes for that issue that the spelling of the character's surname had not yet been decided upon.^[6] However, in The Taris Holofeed: Invasion Edition, the senator's surname was spelled as "Gorravus". Furthermore, his entry in 2008's The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia had the spelling of his name as "Gor-ravvus." Gorravvus was given the first name "Haydel" in his entry in the Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide, where his background was expanded because Miller needed a character to represent the Corporate Agent prestige class for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game.^[7]

In the comics, Goravvus was drawn by Brian Ching and Dustin Weaver for the first and twenty-third issues of the Knights of the Old Republic comic series, respectively. The first issue depicted the character as having yellow irises; however, the twenty-third issue depicted Goravvus' eyes as a blue hue.

AppearancesEdit

• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1: Commencement, Part 1 (First appearance)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 6: Commencement, Part 6 (Mentioned only)
• The Taris Holofeed: Siege Edition (Mentioned only)
• The Taris Holofeed: Invasion Edition (Mentioned only)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 22: Knights of Suffering, Part 1 (Mentioned only)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 23: Knights of Suffering, Part 2
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 46: Destroyer, Part 2 (Mentioned only)
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 48: Demon, Part 2 (Indirect mention only)

SourcesEdit

• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Handbook (Mentioned only)
• Knights of the Old Republic Campaign Guide (First identified as Haydel)
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. I ("Gor-ravvus")

Notes and referencesEdit

External linksEdit

•  Goravvus, Haydel in The Completely Unofficial Star Wars Encyclopedia (backup link on Archive.org)