Tanith Shire Tanith Shire was a Human female from the planet Ophideraan . As a young woman , she and her father crashed their ship on Ophideraan , and her people were enslaved by the Serpent Masters , a scavenger group who forced them to maintain the Great Well , their base of operation . Due to the Serpent Masters ' mastery over the world ' s flying serpents , Shire and her people were unable to escape . However , Shire convinced the Serpent Masters ' leader , Supreme Serpent Master Tyrann to let her leave Ophideraan to send salvage their way . As an agent for the Serpent Masters , Shire worked as a supply tug operator at the starship yards of Fondor . She was able to reprogram drone barges to crash - land on Ophideraan , supplying her masters with a regular supply of salvage . During her work , Shire came into contact with the Rebel spy , Luke Skywalker who was at the shipyards to gather intelligence on the " Executor " , which was being constructed there . Shire rescued Skywalker from an ambush by Darth Vader and helped him escape Fondor in one of her reprogrammed drone barges . After crash - landing on Ophideraan , Shire and Skywalker teamed up to defeat Tyrann and the Serpent Masters , freeing her people . Although Shire had fallen in love with Skywalker during their adventures , and tried to convince him to stay with her , Skywalker ' s devotion to the Rebellion would not let him abandon his cause and the two parted ways . Biography . Early life . Several years before the Battle of Yavin , Tanith and her father , Josen Shire , were forced to crash - land their ship on the desert world of Ophideraan . On Ophideraan , Tanith , Josen and the people aboard their shuttle were enslaved by the Serpent Masters , and put to work maintaining the Great Well , the base of operations for the scavengers . Shire and her people were confined to the slave level s at the bottom of the well with no way to escape except by riding flying beasts that could only be controlled by the Serpent Masters . The Supreme Serpent Master , Tyrann , became attracted to Tanith , and the girl used this to her advantage . She persuaded Tyrann to allow her to leave Ophideraan , though on the condition that she supplied his people with wrecks to salvage . Tanith hoped that if she served the Serpent Masters loyally , she would eventually be able to buy her people ' s freedom . Around 0 ABY , Tanith was present on the planet Fondor being employed as a supply tug operator . She periodically sent drone barges and supply ships programmed to crash on Ophideraan ' s surface for the Serpent Masters to loot . She explained away the loss of these vessels with stories of system malfunctions . Fondor tug operator . While working at the Fondor Shipyards , Shire was responsible for transporting raw materials and workers in her supply tug to the worksite of the " Executor " . During one of her supply runs , she was assigned to bring one of the droid maintenance workers and his droids to the worksite . As she went to meet up with the new worker , she met Luke Skywalker , an undercover Rebel spy . Unknown to Shire , Skywalker was attempting to gather data on the Empire ' s new warship and was using his droids , R2 - D2 and C - 3PO to pose as a droid maintenance worker . Upon seeing Skywalker , Shire was immediately infatuated , and in her direct manner , she told the young man that she found him attractive . Luke was shocked by Shire ' s directness , but he warded off her flirtations despite her obvious interest in him . On the flight to the " Executor " Shire openly discussed the possibility that Skywalker might be a spy and questioned him on his relationships , surmising that his tentativeness in returning her affections might be due to having recently been rejected by another woman . Skywalker did not deny any of her conclusions and left her ship flustered by her aggressiveness . As he departed for the worksite , Shire offered her supply tug as his return trip to Fondor . However , when the work day ended , Skywalker was nowhere to be seen . After asking around , she learned that the young man had been stuck with a last minute job assigned by Admiral Amise Griff . Shire waited for Skywalker at the Fondor shipyard worker ' s compound and watched as he arrived in the Admiral ' s personal starship . She propositioned Skywalker again , asking him to spend some time with her , but he refused , claiming that he had another engagement to attend to . Shire , unbelieving of the young man ' s excuse , followed him as he departed the worker ' s compound with his two droids . Shire followed as he descended into the planet ' s underground steam tubes , but in her pursuit , she also noticed a large force of Imperial stormtroopers entering the tunnels . As she attempted to catch up to Skywalker to warn him , she encountered R2 - D2 and C - 3PO , who had been switched off and left in one of the steam tubes . She switched them both back on and learned that Skywalker had been lured into a trap orchestrated by Darth Vader . With Skywalker ' s droids at her side , she raced to rescue the young Rebel , but a large Imperial force was present between her and Skywalker . Needing a diversion to help him escape , Shire ordered R2 - D2 to plug into a terminal which controlled the steam flow system . Despite 3PO ' s protests over the danger , Shire forced the astromech droid to cause a back up in the steam flow , flooding the tunnels with fog . With Shire ' s diversion , Skywalker was able to overpower a stormtrooper and steal his armor , using it to escape discretely and meet up with Shire . Supremely thankful for her help , Skywalker joined Shire in fleeing the tunnels . The two Humans and the two droids stowed away on a departing drone barge and left the Fondor system , slipping through Vader ' s fingers . Back to Ophideraan . The drone barge that the group had boarded was one that had been previously programmed by Shire to crash - land on her homeworld , and she was content to wait until the sabotaged barge dropped out of hyperspace above her world . As they made the trip , C - 3PO notified the two Humans that due to the craft being an automated vessel , there was no life support system and they would run out of air before the barge arrived at its destination . Shire confirmed 3PO ' s statement , but notified Luke that they would have plenty of air to breathe , as the ship would not be completing its trip and was scheduled to crash on Ophideraan due to her sabotage . Skywalker was surprised upon learning that Shire had been stealing drone barges , but he was more concerned about surviving the crash landing . Shire had not planned that far ahead , and she had no plans on how the two Humans would live through the crash . However , Skywalker had R2 - D2 hack into the ship ' s system and programmed the ship to believe that a fire had broken out . The automated barge flooded the ship with extinguisher foam to counteract the nonexistent fire , giving the Humans enough padding to survive . As the drone barge impacted on the planet , Skywalker ' s tactic allowed the two to survive with no significant injuries . However , despite surviving the crash , Skywalker was depressed that he was now stranded on a remote world , unable to bring the intelligence on the " Executor " back to the Rebel Alliance . Skywalker ignored Shire throughout the night , but at dawn , the group was encountered by the Serpent Masters . Shire told Skywalker and his droids to relax , informing them that she worked for the group , helping them scavenge technology from the rest of the galaxy . After the Serpent Masters landed their serpent beasts , the head of the search party , Varn used his power lance to fire a disruptor ray into the droids , deactivating them . Shire calmed Skywalker down , keeping him from attacking the Serpent Masters , and the two Humans boarded serpent beasts to return to the Serpent Master ' s headquarters at the Great Well . Varn informed Skywalker that a slave party would return to the crash site to strip the drone barge , and they would gather his droids at that time . After arriving at the Great Well , Shire and Skywalker came before Supreme Serpent Master Tyrann to determine their fate . Shire explained that she had been forced to use a drone barge to escape the Imperials , but Tyrann was unsatisfied with the excuse . He ordered Shire to return to the slave level and commanded that Skywalker would be executed , as he had been responsible for bringing Shire back to Ophideraan and cutting off the source of misdirected Imperial barges . Shire protested Tyrann ' s decision , claiming that Skywalker was a talented technician and could be valuable to their operation . Although Tyrann surmised Shire ' s true reason for wanting to spare Skywalker ' s life , that she had a romantic interest in him , he agreed that he could be valuable . Despite Varn ' s protests , Tyrann ordered Skywalker to join the rest of the slaves , claiming that he could always kill him later . Varn used his serpent beast to take Shire and Skywalker to the lower slave levels , where Skywalker immediately began to plan their escape . However , Shire was less optimistic , telling the young man that the only way to get out of the slave levels was using a serpent beast , and only the serpent masters could control them . Planning escape . Despite Skywalker ' s protests , he was overruled by the other slaves , including Shire ' s father , who claimed that there was no escaping from their life of slavery . However , Skywalker decided that if the only way to escape was by riding a serpent beast , he would learn the Serpent Masters ' secret and tame one of the beasts for himself . Shire tried to convince Skywalker to abandon his quest , but he was determined and made his way to the Cavern of the Serpents . A short time later , Skywalker returned , having failed to tame a serpent and discouraged about their prospects . However , he was not ready to give up , and decided to track down his droids , hoping that they might hold the secret to controlling the serpents beasts . With Shire ' s help , Skywalker located the droids , and Shire watched as Skywalker used his lightsaber to cut handholds in the rock face and climbed to the chamber where his droids were located . After Skywalker disappeared into the chamber containing his droids , Shire was summoned by her father to the daily slave count . Knowing that Tyrann would not tolerate Skywalker being absent from the count , they attempted to stall the count . However , Varn saw through their ruse and claimed that Skywalker would be found and punished . As Varn and his fellow Serpent Masters searched the Great Well for Skywalker , Shire was brought to Tyrann , who wished for her to see Skywalker ' s defeat personally . As Shire watched , Skywalker rode one of the serpent beasts against Varn ' s forces , having discovered how to control the beasts through ultrasonic signals . However , Varn and his men began to close in on Skywalker , firing their weapons at him . Concerned for Skywalker ' s safety , Shire attempted to bribe Tyrann into stopping the attack , tempting him with the possibility of submitting to him . However , Tyrann refused the offer , knowing that he could not let Skywalker survive after showing open defiance against him . Although Tyrann was confident that Varn would defeat Skywalker , Shire was unconvinced and was proven correct when Skywalker leapt at Tyrann , cutting the medallion that Tyrann used to control the serpents from his chest . As the transmitter fell to the bottom of the well , Tyrann dove for his device but slipped from the ledge , plummeting to his death . Tyrann ' s men , without the ultrasonic transmitter , were unable to control their mounts and were quickly thrown to their deaths and attacked by the serpent beasts . Freed from slavery . Embracing Skywalker and congratulating him for his triumph , Shire organized her people , informing them that they were free from the Serpent Masters . R2 - D2 was able to repair Tyrann ' s ultrasonic transmitter , and it was given to Shire ' s father , who promised to use it responsibly to help his people . With the Serpent Masters defeated , Shire joined Skywalker in trying to find transport back to the Rebel Alliance . The scavengers had scrapped all the starships in their possession , but one cargo hauler was still operational . However , the small vessel had a limited range and did not have enough power to return to their Rebel base . Despite R2 - D2 ' s efforts at augmenting the craft ' s hyperdrive , the droid was unable to increase the cargo hauler ' s power . Instead , the droid opened up a secret communication frequency to contact the Alliance Fleet . Skywalker was able to contact his friend , Han Solo , who agreed to rendezvous with their ship on the nearby planet of Kabal . Although Skywalker and his droids were excited to return to the Rebellion , Shire had fallen in love with Skywalker and could not contain her sadness that the young Rebel would soon be abandoning her . When the cargo hauler arrived at Kabal , they were greeted by dozens of starships fleeing the world . Puzzled over the planet ' s impromptu evacuation , Shire landed the cargo hauler and tried to ask one of the fleeing individuals what was happening . Skywalker was able to stop one of the fleeing evacuees who told them that an Imperial battle cruiser was heading to Kabal at attack speed . Skywalker was determined to stay on the world for the rendezvous despite the danger , but Shire had other ideas . Knowing that the cargo hauler was the only starship that her people had access to , Shire could not risk the craft falling into Imperial hands or being destroyed . Although Shire tried one last time to get Skywalker to come with her , he refused to abandon his duty to the Rebellion . Skywalker ' s affection for Princess Leia and his devotion to the Alliance kept him from accepting Shire ' s offer . However , as a parting remembrance , Skywalker kissed the young woman , a tribute to the affection they had developed over their adventures . Legacy . Skywalker did not forget Shire or their budding romance , and when he became stranded on the planet Seidhkona , the mind - witch S ' ybll disguised herself as Shire after reading Skywalker ' s mind . During the Yuuzhan Vong War , Skywalker was teased by his wife , Mara Jade Skywalker , who referenced his encounter with Shire on Fondor . However , Skywalker dismissed her teasing , stating that he had never been in love with Shire despite their kiss . Personality and traits . Shire was an intelligent and capable Human who was a proficient pilot and was able to reprogram automated vessels without being detected . In romantic endeavors , she knew what she wanted and was very forward with those that she was interested in . However , she had no trouble refusing the advances of those that were interested in her , as she did with Tyrann , despite his ability to free her from slavery . In their adventures together , Shire could not hide her infatuation with Luke Skywalker , asking him to spend time with her on numerous occasions . Despite his reluctance , she still persevered , even asking him to come with her as they parted ways . She was also unable to hide her emotions around him , as tears ran down her face when she came to the realization that they would be parting ways . Behind the scenes . Tanith Shire was created by Archie Goodwin and illustrated by Al Williamson for use in the Star Wars comic strip published by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate . Shire appeared in the stories " Darth Vader Strikes " , " The Serpent Masters " , and " Deadly Reunion " before departing the storyline . Shire was also mentioned in a later story , " The Paradise Detour " , when the character S ' ybll used Shire ' s appearance to trick Skywalker . These stories were later reprinted by Dark Horse Comics in " Classic Star Wars " and the storylines including Shire were repackaged in " " . These reprints colored the originally black and white comic strip panels and reordered some of the comic panels , removing redudant parts of the storyline . Shire was later referenced in the article " ComicScan : Star Wars . . . On A Daily Basis " in issue 2 of " Star Wars Galaxy Magazine " which noted her as an original creation by the comic strip . Two later articles in " Star Wars Galaxy Collector " magazine also discussed Tanith Shire ' s exploits during the comic strip . " ComicScan : Coming Full Circle " in issue 3 referenced the storylines that Shire was involved in , and " ComicScan : Luke - ing for Love in all the Wrong Places " in issue 7 mentioned Skywalker ' s short - lived romance with Shire . The events of the comic strip were referenced in the books " " and " " which mentioned Tanith Shire by name . She also received an entry in the " Star Wars Encyclopedia " . In the StarWars . com Databank , Tanith Shire ' s entry mentioned that her father and her homeworld were unnamed . However , the entry lists her homeworld as Ophideraan , despite the original comic stating that Shire and her father crash - landed on the world long ago .