Graxol Kelvyyn

«Make it fifteen wupiupi, and you have a bet!»

―Graxol Kelvyyn^[4]

Graxol Kelvyyn was an Anx male slave trader and an obsessive gambler who sold living cargo throughout the Outer Rim Territories around the year 32 BBY. His business was based on the planet Ryloth, but pleasure frequently brought him to the world of Tatooine; there, Kelvyyn bet on Podracing events. Often on his arm was the Lethan Twi'lek Shakka, his property and love interest. In 32 BBY, they both attended Tatooine's Boonta Eve Classic Podrace and viewed the competition from the private box of Kelvyyn's friend, the Toydarian merchant Watto.

Kelvyyn initially wagered that the Dug racer Sebulba would win the event. However, impressed with Watto's young Human slave Anakin Skywalker, the Anx placed several bets on the boy after the competition began. When Skywalker won the race, Kelvyyn smugly demanded wupiupi from Watto, who had shown little faith in his own slave. Years later, the sentientologist Tem Eliss mentioned Kelvyyn in his academic writings; although Kelvyyn was a gentle and loving being, Eliss considered him a dishonorable example of the Anx species.

Biography[]

«The boy has spunk. I wager he'll finish. What do you say to ten wupiupi, Watto?»
«Heh heh heh! Don't insult me, Graxol. Make it twenty wupiupi!''»
«Agreed.»

―Graxol Kelvyyn and Watto, during the Boonta Eve Classic^[4]

The Anx male Graxol Kelvyyn^[1] lived during the waning years of the Galactic Republic.^[3] Operating from the planet Ryloth, he was active as a slave trader throughout the Outer Rim Territories, where he sold living cargo to smugglers who in turn shipped the slaves across much of the galaxy. An obsessive gambler, Kelvyyn frequently visited the planet Tatooine to attend and bet on Podracing events alongside his friend Watto, a Toydarian merchant.^[5] At the Podraces, the two of them became acquainted with Diva Shaliqua, a Human/Theelin hybrid slave who belonged to the crime lord Jabba the Hutt.^[6]

Wattos box — Kelvyyn watches the Boonta Eve Classic from Watto's box.

Shortly before^[5] 32 BBY,^[7] Kelvyyn fell in love with his slave Shakka, a Lethan Twi'lek female. She became a fixture on his arm at social gatherings,^[5] and in 32 BBY,^[7] both of them attended the Boonta Eve Classic Podrace at Tatooine's Mos Espa Grand Arena, wherein they joined Watto and several of the Toydarian's other associates in his private viewing box high above the racing track.^[3] Confident in the abilities of the Dug racer Sebulba, Kelvyyn wagered 50,000 credits that he would win the day's event.^[8]

Anakin Skywalker, a young Human slave of Watto's, was also entered in the race, and when his Podracer failed to start, Kelvyyn and his comrades laughed at the boy's misfortune. Skywalker persevered and got his vehicle going,^[3] but Watto was sceptical that the ragtag machine would be able to finish the race. Kelvyyn and Watto's friend Weazel both wagered twenty wupiupi that Skywalker would in fact complete all three laps, and Watto eagerly took the bet. After Sebulba completed the first lap in record time, Watto offered ten wupiupi that he would set a record for the entire race; Kelvyyn upped the ante to fifteen and accepted.^[4] The Anx made one further wager with Watto: that Skywalker would win the entire event.^[1] As Kelvyyn watched anxiously,^[8] Skywalker overtook Sebulba and emerged the victor. Although a furious Watto argued with his guests,^[3] Kelvyyn and Weazel demanded payment.^[4]

Years later,^[9] Kelvyyn was discussed by the Iyra sentientologist Tem Eliss in The University of Sanbra Guide to Intelligent Life,^[5] a book that showcased some of the galaxy's myriad sentient species.^[9] Kelvyyn was presented as an example of a dishonorable Anx whose gambling and slave trading were cited as vices.^[5]

Personality and traits[]

«You owe me thirty-five wupiupi. Maybe next time you'll bet on your slave!»

―Kelvyyn taunts Watto following the Boonta Eve Classic^[4]

Gamblingmen — Kelvyyn continued to place bets after the Boonta Eve Classic began.

Graxol Kelvyyn was a skilled trader who dealt in slaves and maintained a network of seedy smugglers throughout the galaxy. He was knowledgeable of the workings of criminal organizations and was adept at intimidating others.^[5] However, Kelvyyn was also a gentle man^[1] and was well-liked by the residents of Tatooine's city of Mos Espa, who thought of him as a local.^[8] He fell in love with his slave Shakka, but Professor Tem Eliss nevertheless considered him a dishonorable individual and believed that falling for one's own property was a mistake that no slaver could afford to make.^[5]

A known aficionado of Podracing,^[10] Kelvyyn enjoyed the risks and rewards of the races^[1] and gambled on them obsessively.^[5] He was not averse to raising a bet's stakes.^[4] Kelvyyn made separate wagers on two different racers to win the Boonta Eve Classic^[1]^[8] in 32 BBY^[7] and continued to gamble with Watto after the race began.^[4] Although he laughed and clapped when Anakin Skywalker's Podracer failed to start,^[3] he was afterward impressed with the boy's performance^[4] and placed multiple bets on him.^[1]^[4] Kelvyyn taunted Watto when failing to bet on his own slave lost the Toydarian money.^[4]

Kelvyyn was a hairless male Anx^[1] with blue eyes^[4] and creamy white skin.^[3] He stood considerably taller than 1.37 meters.^[2] Able to fluently speak, read, and write both the Anx language and Galactic Basic Standard, Kelvyyn could additionally speak Huttese, Rodese, Shyriiwook, Shusugaunt, and Twi'leki. Although he was trained in the use of martial arts, the Anx carried a hold-out blaster on his person.^[5]

Behind the scenes[]

"And Jerome was in another character when the Pod Race audience set was filmed, so I got the chance to play Graxol Kelvyyn for that scene. That was nearly five hours in an oven, so it's great fun for a day but I'm not sure how the performers/actors put up with it for weeks at a time!"

―John Coppinger^[11]

Graxol Kelvyyn was, along with Senator Horox Ryyder, one of two Anx characters created for the 1999 film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. Both characters' origins lie in a piece of concept art drawn by artist Doug Chiang that was later turned into a 3D character maquette by sculptor John Coppinger; Coppinger added slight details and altered some of the characters' proportions in order for the transition from drawing to sculpture to work. A nearly eleven-foot-tall Anx costume was then created that required actor Jerome Blake to stand on twenty-four-inch stilts with the costume's head resting thirty-six inches above his own.^[11]

Anxconcept — Anx concept art by Doug Chiang served as the inspiration for Graxol Kelvyyn.

Coppinger stood in for Blake during some of the early Anx costume fittings and demonstrated the costume's rig to director George Lucas, who, worried that the character was too tall, saw to it that both Kelvyyn and Ryyder sat down during their scenes in the movie. When Kelvyyn's scene was filmed, Blake was busy playing another role, and Coppinger donned the Anx costume in his stead. Coppinger has described the experience as "nearly five hours in an oven," but still "great fun for a day."^[11] Kelvyyn appeared as an extra, and Coppinger's performance went uncredited in the film.^[3] It was incorrectly attributed to Blake in the forty-eighth issue of Star Wars Insider magazine.^[12]

An action figure of Kelvyyn was released by Hasbro in 1999 and was packaged with figures of Watto and Shakka in a three-pack called "Watto's Box;" the set was the first licensed Star Wars product to provide the character with the name "Graxol Kelvyyn."^[8] At the time, Kelvyyn was the largest Star Wars figure that Hasbro had ever produced.^[12] More information on the character was later revealed in the 2001 Coruscant Limited expansion set of the Star Wars Customizable Card Game.^[1] Although the Hasbro toy set asserts that Kelvyyn bet on Sebulba to win the Boonta Eve Classic,^[8] Coruscant Limited states that he wagered Skywalker would achieve victory.^[1] As Kelvyyn has been established as an obsessive gambler,^[5] this article treats both statements as canonical.

Kelvyyn is involved in several discrepancies between The Phantom Menace and the Expanded Universe. In the video game adaptation of the film, Kelvyyn and Watto are in the Toydarian's box prior to the Boonta Eve Classic when the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn enters and gambles with Watto on the outcome of the race. This encounter contradicts the events of the film,^[13] which sees the bet occur in the Podracers' hangar and without Kelvyyn present.^[3] The game also presents a different roster of characters seen in the box during the race; although Kelvyyn is among them, he is unaccompanied by Shakka.^[13] Furthermore, the 2000 comic Podracing Tales, illustrated by Ken Steacy, depicts Kelvyyn with considerably greener skin than in The Phantom Menace,^[4] and the eighty-sixth issue of The Official Star Wars Fact File incorrectly states that the Anx at the Boonta Eve Classic is Horox Ryyder, positing that the Senator's presence in Watto's box is surprising.^[14]