Momaw Nadon

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"Sometimes one must turn the soil to save the garden"

―Momaw Nadon^[src]

Momaw Nadon was an Ithorian who was exiled from his homeworld, Ithor, after he revealed secrets of Ithorian agricultural technology to the Galactic Empire. He spent much of his exile on Tatooine, and was seen in Chalmun's Cantina when Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi came searching for passage to Alderaan.

Biography

Early life

Momaw Nadon served his people for decades as high priest of the Tafanda Bay. After the rise of the Galactic Empire, Ithor was threatened. The newly-established Empire demanded access to Ithorian agricultural techniques and technology. Such information was sacred to the Ithorian people, and they refused. Nadon, however, was compelled to reveal this technology to save the surface of Ithor to prevent further damage of their 'mother jungle' from the turbolasers of the Imperial fleet. He revealed this knowledge to Imperial Captain Alima, under the threat of further decimation of the world.

Despite saving his homeworld from destruction, the Ithorian Elders nevertheless punished him for his sacrilegious deeds. Usually being a sentence of death, Nadon was able to call in a favor from a friend, and the "traitor" was then exiled.^[4]

Exile

File:Momaw Nadon (Bafforr trees).jpg

Momaw Nadon cultivating Bafforr trees on Tatooine.

During his exile, Nadon settled on Tatooine. While he was there, Nadon still honored the Ithorian traditions and tried to adapt large trees from Ithor to the hot dry weather on Tatooine. He tended a secret grove in the mountains south of Mos Eisley, including a carnivorous Vesuvague tree. The grove concealed a shelter where Momaw could hide Rebel operatives fleeing the Galactic Empire.

He met and fell in love with the fellow Ithorian, Slag Flats who was later killed by Jodo Kast.^[5]

While on Tatooine, he met up with Alima, who had been demoted to a lieutenant. Alima threatened his bafforr trees with death if he did not help him in finding an astromech the Empire was seeking. The pacifistic Nadon got so concerned about this, that he even tried to kill Alima. However, the attempt failed due to Nadon's lack of experience with weapons and Nadon was humiliated by Alima once more.

Finally, Nadon discovered the truth when he saw Obi-Wan Kenobi in Chalmun's Cantina: The old man tried to smuggle the sought droid from Tatooine. Nadon then hid in the background when stormtroopers tried to stop the Millennium Falcon from escaping. After having lost the droids, the Imperial Prefect searched for a scapegoat he could blame for this failure. Nadon then appeared on the scene and told the Imperial Prefect that he had informed Lieutenant Alima that the droids were leaving from this hangar two days before, and Alima was shot dead before he could protest. Horrified, Nadon took two cell samples from Alima's corpse. In keeping with the Law of Life, Nadon made two clones, so that Alima would pay his debt to the Ithorians—and Nadon would pay his to Alima.^[4]

Redemption

File:Momaw Nadon's house.png

Nadon is held at gunpoint in his own home.

After a "great meet" of Ithorian Herd Ships, it was decided Nadon had acted with the best interest of the Ithorian people. His exile was ended, and he was restored as herd leader of Tafanda Bay. Despite this restoration, Nadon still believed he had brought shame upon himself and vowed to spend the rest of his life accounting for his mistake. He was the representative when Wedge Antilles brought Qwi Xux to Ithor, providing them with information on his lush homeworld.^[6]

Yuuzhan Vong War

By 25 ABY, he had been replaced as the high priest and leader of the Ithorian people by Relal Tawron. On Ithor, he had a wife and son, Fandomar and Do-Forow Nadon.

Behind the scenes

In the Star Wars radio drama, Luke commented on seeing a Meerian Hammerhead while in the cantina. Since then, another species has been identified as Meerians.

Lucasfilm named him Ammerha in 1978, though the name went unused.^[source?]

Even though he was a bystander in A New Hope, he has appeared several times in the Expanded Universe as a peaceful Rebel sympathizer.

His colloquial nickname comes from the Kenner action figure.

While there was no one inside the costume, ILMers Jon Berg and Phil Tippett both created and controlled the creature. Berg would reach into the character to move his head while Tippett controlled his eye movements via remote control.