Dengar
From Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Characters


Species: Human
Sex: Male
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Height: 1.8 meters

Homeworld: Unknown
Political Affiliation: Free-lance bounty hunter

Weapons of choice: Blaster rifle, concussion grenades, vibroblade
Vehicle of choice: Corellian Jumpmaster 5000 Punishing One

First Appearance: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

When Darth Vader put out a call for bounty hunters to find Han Solo, one of the obvious choices was the armored Dengar. This particular hunter had a long-standing grudge against Solo, and his hunt would be personal.

When he was a young adult, Dengar had been a successful swoop Jockey on the popular Ferini team. Swoops were dangerous repulsorlift bikes, and Dengar had been racing them since his childhood, becoming a cult hero throughout the Corellian system. With the Ferini team, he became even more popular, gaining endorsement contracts and ever higher wages and winnings. But the controlled world of professional, tour swoop racing was not what held Dengar's attention.

The private tour called to Dengar--wild and dangerous, and with one major challenge. A young Corellian named Han Solo had become a popular swoop jockey on the private circuit, and Dengar was constantly compared to him. Finally, tired of the comparisons, Dengar chalenged Solo to a winner-takes-all race across the dangerous crystal swamps of Agrilat. Even though Solo had been accepted into the Imperial Academy of Caridia, he couldn't refuse the challenge.

The swoop race was one of the most-watched events in the Corellian system, and the two racers seemed evenly-matched--until the final stretch. Solo sped to a lower altitude, zooming through the dangerous underbrush, pulling ahead slightly. Dengar decided to go one better and swooped closer to the swamps, taking an even lower approach. As he cleared the last bit of foliage before the straightaway to the target, Dengar didn't realize Solo was directly above him.

Dengar pulled his swoop up and crashed into Solo's main repulsor fin. The impact left him badly burned, with major cranial trauma. While he was recovering, he also recieved word that he had been kicked out of professional swoop racing for engaging in the illegal race with Solo. Dengar's life was destroyed, and he held Han Solo responsible.

Although he eventually healed, Dengar carried a burning hatred for Solo. For a time, he worked as a gladiator, but eventually, he found another calling: The Empire wanted him as an assassin. They would train him and provide him with equipment that might help balance his mind--unstable since the accident. Records about Dengar's time in service to the Empire--and subsequent departure--have not yet been found.

When he learned there was a galaxy-wide bounty on Solo's head, he dicided to become a bounty hunter. Outfitting himself with body-protecting blast armor and major weaponry, Dengar eventually came into the employof Jabba the Hutt. The ex-racer's success ratio ratio over the following decade was debatable. Of the twenty-three bounties he captured, only six were alive.

Shortly before the battle of Hoth, Boba Fett gathered several other hunters, including Bossk, Dengar, and Skorr, to find Han Solo. The hunters caputured him aboard the pirate Raskar's ship, along with Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca. While bringing the trio to the planet Ord Mantell, the hunters were taken by surprise when Luke used his Force powers to engineer the Alliance members' escape.

Events soon conspired to bring Dengar into the service of Darth Vader on the Super Star Destroyer Executor. Boba Fett, Bossk, IG-88, Zuckuss, and 4-LOM were assigned to track down the Milennium Falcon. Unfortunately for Dengar and the others, Fett was the one who succeeded in tracking the Falcon to the Bespin system, and who recieved not only the bounty, but also the carbon-frozen body to deliver to Jabba the Hutt.

Months later, Dengar arrived on Tatooine, making his way to Jabba's palace and the endless partying there. Too drunk on Zeltron spiced wine, he missed the excitement when the execution party left to dispose of Luke, Han, and Chewbacca. He soon learned that Jabba was dead, and the sail barge wrecked.

A short time later, Dengar set out to search for Jabba's body among the wreckage of the sail barge near the Great Pit of Carkoon. The hunter figured that Jabba would have kept an identi-chip with him--one that was needed to open the mysterious and hopefully treasure-filled vaults deep in the palace. Instead of Jabba, Dengar found Boba Fett, devoid of armor and covered in scars and fibers from the Sarlacc. Dengar took Fett back to the palace, and spent the next month nursing him back to health using Jabba's medical droids. During that time, Dengar was constantly traveling to Mos Eisley on mysterious business. When Fett was well-enough, the two set off in Dengar's ship, bound for Nar Shaddaa, the spaceport moon that functioned as the smuggling center of the galaxy.

Six years after the death of Jabba the Hutt, Solo and his now-wife Leia went to Nar Shaddaa, where Han was surprised to find Boba Fett and Dengar waiting for him in his quarters. Dodging a hail of blaster fire, Leia and Han made it off world, escaping to Byss in Salla Zend's Starlight Intruder.

Fett and Dengar followed in Fett's Slave II, snatching their prey's coordinates and jumping into hyperspace. Although the Slave IIarrived at Byss before the Starlight Intruder, only Salla's ship was cleared to get through the planetary security shields. The shields closed, locking out Fett's ship and breaking off a control rudder. As they spun away, trying to regain control of the ship, Dengar angrily told Fett this was the last time he'd ever work with him.

Dengar's current whereabouts are unknown, but his bounty-hunting days are far from over. In the back of his mind, the hunter knows that, one day, he will cause Solo as much pain as the Corellian has caused him.





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