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Hermi Odle was a male Baragwin gangster who worked as a weapons specialist and as the personal armorer of the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure, helping to craft defenses for the Hutt's palace on the planet Tatooine. He was part of a crowd that refused to back Jabba's majordomo, Bib Fortuna, when Boba Fett confronted Fortuna at the palace while looking for Jabba.

In 4 ABY, Odle was present in Jabba's throne room when the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO delivered a message to Jabba from the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, and laughed when the Hutt declared he would not be bargaining with the Jedi for the freedom of the smuggler Han Solo. He was later present when Skywalker arrived at the palace and killed Jabba's pet rancor Pateesa.

Biography[]

Shady thug[]

"You know who I am. Boba Fett. You know what that means. All of you want to live. Who doesn't? But I promise. Fight me… some of you die. Maybe most of you. And you'd be dying… for him. Doesn't seem fair, does it?"
―Boba Fett speaks to the crowd that Odle is part of[7]

Hermi Odle was a Baragwin male[4] gangster[3] with a shady past[5] who was on the payroll of the crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure[3] as the Hutt's personal armorer.[8] He also worked as a weapons specialist and helped to craft the defences of Jabba's Palace[4] on the desert planet Tatooine, where he could often be found.[3]

BobaVsFortuna3-WotBH1

Odle was among a crowd that refused to defend Bib Fortuna.

Shortly after the smuggler Han Solo was frozen in carbonite[9] in 3 ABY,[1] Odle walked past the bounty hunter Amanaman and Solo's ally Lando Calrissian as Calrissian asked Amanaman to keep an eye out for the bounty hunter Boba Fett for him.[9] Jabba later put a bounty on Fett after the bounty hunter had Solo's frozen form stolen from him while trying to deliver it to Jabba. Fett then traveled to Jabba's Palace to confront the Hutt, but was greeted at the gate by the Hutt's majordomo, Bib Fortuna.[7]

Fortuna explained that Jabba was unavailable as he was attending an auction for Solo being held by Crimson Dawn. A crowd including Odle then emerged behind Fortuna, some with their weapons aimed at Fett, as the majordomo suggested that the hunter leave. Fett instead spoke to the crowd, asking if it was worth potentially dying for Fortuna's sake. The crowd lowered their weapons, and Fett passed by Odle as he walked into the palace with Fortuna to see the auction invitation.[7]

Rescue of Han Solo[]

LaughingHermi-ROTJ

Hermi Odle worked in Jabba's Palace.

In 4 ABY,[10] he was present in the palace when the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO arrived[6] early one morning[11] with a holographic message from their master, the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. In the message, Skywalker asked to bargain with Jabba for the freedom of Han Solo, a imprisoned smuggler that the Hutt held frozen in carbonite and displayed on his throne room wall, and gifted him the two droids as a sign of good will. After the recording finished, Jabba announced that he had no interest in giving up his favorite decoration, causing Odle, who was stood in front of Solo's frozen form, to laugh.[6]

HermiShasa-BTM

Hermi Odle was a bizarre looking Baragwin, but was more dangerous then his appearance suggested.

Odle was later sleeping in one of the throne room's booths[6] the morning after a night of celebrations at the palace following[11] the capture of Princess Leia Organa after she had freed Solo from carbonite. As the Baragwin dozed alongside Jabba and many other court members, Skywalker arrived at the palace and used mind tricks to reach the throne room, where the Hutt's majordomo, Bib Fortuna, woke the crime lord up. As the court also rose, Skywalker demanded that Solo, Organa, and the Wookiee Chewbacca be released, threatening Jabba with a blaster pistol when he refused.[6]

Jabba then dropped Skywalker, and the unfortunate Gamorrean guard Jubnuk, through a trap door into a pit below the throne room. The court watched as Jabba's pet rancor, Pateesa, devored Jubnuk before being killed by Skywalker, outraging Jabba. Odle remained in the booth, by this point standing, as Skywalker, Solo, and Chewbacca were dragged before the Hutt and sentenced to death. Jabba and much of his court then traveled to the Great Pit of Carkoon to witness the executions, but the captives managed to turn the tables on their captors and killed the crime lord and many of his followers.[6]

Personality and traits[]

Hermi Odle was a massive Baragwin[3] who stood 2.1 meters.[5] A bizarre creature,[8] his head and lips fell to the level of his throat, which gave the impression that the gangster was a hunchback.[3] However, wise members of Jabba's court knew that he was far more dangerous then his stopped posture, shuffling gait, and drooping lip suggested.[5] He had yellow eyes and mottled pink and purple skin.[6]

Equipment[]

Odle wore a tattered cloak and clothing[3] which were all brown in color.[6]

Behind the scenes[]

HermiOdle-VE

The Hermi Odle costume measured 201 centimeters, by 308 centimeters, by 102 centimeters

In the current Star Wars canon, Hermi Odle first appeared in the original trilogy film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi,[6] which was released on May 25, 1983.[12] He was played by the mime artist Phil Herbert,[13] who was credited as a mime artist on the film.[6] The full costume was based on a maquette of the character and measured 201 centimeters tall, 308 centimeters in diameter, and 102 centimeters wide[14] and was designed by Phil Tippett. Creature builder Kirk Thatcher thinks it may have been Tony McVey who built the outfit, likely in a single afternoon.[15] The palace throne room scenes filmed between January 25 and February 8, 1982 on Stage 8 at Elstree Studios.[16]

The character was listed as number 26 on list of creatures being made for the film from November 4, 1981, which gave Hermi Odle as its production name, but also had "Hemmy Moroid" as a nickname."[17] Odle's name is likely a take on 'Hear Me Yodel'.[18] In the film's second draft, Odle sat on C-3PO while Jabba's pet Salacious B. Crumb tormented the droid during the barge scene. R2-D2 then saved C-3PO by giving Crumb and then Odle electric shocks to force them off the droid.[19] This scene was used in the Star Wars Legends novelization of the film by James Kahn,[20] which was released prior to the film on May 12, 1983,[12] therefore marking the character's first appearance in the Legends continuity.[20] The name was first used in-universe in the current canon by the mobile card game Star Wars: Force Collection,[4] which initially launched in 2013. Although the launch of Force Collection predates[21] the Star Wars canon reset of 2014,[22] Lucasfilm Story Group member Leland Chee confirmed that the game was kept updated to fit with canon.[23]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Star Wars: Galactic Atlas
  2. Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 Star Wars: Geektionary: The Galaxy from A - Z
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Star Wars: Force Collection (Card: Hermi Odle (★))
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 StarWars-DatabankII Hermi Odle in the Databank (backup link)
  6. 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 War of the Bounty Hunters 1
  8. 8.0 8.1 Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary, New Edition
  9. 9.0 9.1 Star Wars (2020) 2
  10. Star Wars: Galactic Atlas dates the events of Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi to 4 ABY.
  11. 11.0 11.1 Return of the Jedi: Beware the Power of the Dark Side!
  12. 12.0 12.1 Star Wars Year By Year: A Visual History, New Edition
  13. Return of the Jedi Star Signs Up For Norwich Sci-Fi Convention by Hoare, James on www.scifinow.co.uk (June 29, 2012) (archived from the original on January 18, 2021)
  14. Star Wars: Chronicles
  15. YouTube Star Wars: Return of the Jedi - Cantina Archeology Part 3: Behind The Scenes of Jabba's Palace on the The Credible Nerds YouTube channel (backup link)
  16. The Making of Return of the Jedi
  17. StarWars Return of the Jedi Creature History with Pablo Hidalgo on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
  18. Databank title Odle, Hermi in the Databank (content now obsolete; backup link)
  19. SWInsider "Behind the Magic" — Star Wars Insider 58
  20. 20.0 20.1 Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi novelization
  21. StarWars Announcing Star Wars: Force Collection on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link)
  22. StarWars The Legendary Star Wars Expanded Universe Turns a New Page on StarWars.com (backup link)
  23. TwitterLogo Leland Chee (@holocronkeeper) on Twitter: "I'm not gonna go through the trouble of changing them and I don't have any reason to believe currently that anyone would. […] On the off-chance that we DID have a current need to change any of these, we would have for Force Collection." (backup link)Leland Chee of the Lucasfilm Story Group has confirmed that in-universe information from Star Wars: Force Collection conforms with Star Wars canon.

External links[]

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