Raskar

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Raskar was a smuggler and pirate, formerly a member of the dreaded Pirates of Iridium. While most of his order had perished at the hands of the Jedi Knights immediately prior to the start of the Clone Wars, Raskar managed to survive with the galaxy's sole remaining power gem. A potent weapon, the power gem could be used to destabilize the shields of spacecraft.

Biography

Following the destruction of the Pirates, Raskar retired to the inconspicuous Outer Rim Territories world of Antipose, carving out a living by placing bets against those who wanted his gem. There, in his arena, Raskar would often pit opponents against his deadliest underlings, such as Mystra. By continuing to hone his skills on dueling droids, the operation proved to be rather lucrative for the brigand, until Han Solo and Chewbacca arrived to challenge him. His best warrior defeated at the hands of the Wookiee (Han and Chewbacca had orchestrated a brawl outside of the arena as a distraction for Han to sneak into his villa), as well as Solo discovering that the power gem only had enough power to be used only once due to prolonged periods of disuse, Raskar had no choice but to hand the power gem over to Solo, especially as Chewbacca is the only one who cannot tell a soul about the truth. However, Han Solo and Chewbacca only intended for this to be temporary, as they desired to loot him of his ill-gotten gains as punishment for what he did. That particular stone would later be used by General Jan Dodonna's son, Vrad, in a courageous but doomed attempt to destroy the Executor on its way to Yavin 4.

Raskar faded into obscurity until some years later, when he emerged as a bounty hunter in the employ of Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Attempting to claim Jabba's bounty on Solo's head, the ex-pirate tracked the Millennium Falcon to the fledgling Rebel base on Hoth. The attempt was in vain, however, as Solo once again outwitted Raskar, this time with the aid of his newfound friend, Luke Skywalker. Unfettered, Raskar pursued the duo below the planet's surface, ravenous in his attempt to profit off the venture—now, he sought to steal the reward Han had earned for the rescue of Princess Leia Organa.

As hunter and hunted descended into the depths of the ice planet, the discovery of lumni-spice gave Raskar pause, and he delivered an ultimatum: for a fair share of the lumni-spice, Raskar would cease in his pursuit of Solo. Following a brief encounter with a vicious dragon slug, all parties agreed on the pact and fled the planet.

Raskar would later appear on Ord Mantell, where he helped rescue Han Solo from the clutches of Skorr.

Behind the scenes

"Al [Williamson] liked to do a lot of his work based on real people. He had a friend who he thought would be fun to do as a space pirate. I came up with Raskar, who's kind of a 'good' bad guy. He turns out to be a good foil for Solo—he's two shades more into the black than Solo, but they're cut from the same cloth."

―Archie Goodwin^[src]

Raskar was created by Archie Goodwin and Al Williamson for The Power Gem, a Star Wars comic strip published in 1982. He later appeared in two other strips: A New Beginning and Showdown.