Elis Helrot / Legends Elis Helrot was a Givin male who worked as a pilot , smuggler , merchant , and slave trader during the Galactic Civil War . A native of the planet Yag ' Dhul , he possessed an analytical mind and was considered a ruthless and unscrupulous businessman by others . Helrot operated from his personally modified starship , the " Hinthra " , and often made slaving and spice runs from the desert world of Tatooine to the planets Ryloth and Pavilion . A longstanding feud developed between Helrot and the Morseerian smuggler Nabrun Leids during the Givin ' s career . Both were in Chalmun ' s Spaceport Cantina on Tatooine one day in 0 BBY and bore witness to a skirmish between Jedi Master Obi - Wan Kenobi and the pirates Ponda Baba and Cornelius Evazan . In 3 ABY , Helrot and the crew of the " Hinthra " took part in a competition organized by Mal Biron , a Vigo of the Black Sun criminal organization who hoped to discover new and loyal allies . The " Hinthra " was one of seven smuggling vessels that moved along the Sisar Run hyperlane in a race to deliver secret cargo to the luxury liner " " . When he received his cargo at the Nwarcol Point space station , Helrot opened its sealed container and found unarmed magnetic pulse warheads inside . He smelled profit and , after arriving at the " Destination : Adventure ! " , offered 10 , 000 credits to another smuggling crew for their identical cargo . The conversation was overheard by Biron , whose enforcers responded by stunning Helrot and his crew into unconsciousness . Biography . Time on Tatooine . A Givin male , Elis Helrot hailed from the planet Yag ' Dhul , his species ' homeworld . During the Galactic Civil War , he was active as a pilot , smuggler , merchant , and slave trader . Helrot operated out of his starship , the " Hinthra " , a freighter that he himself heavily modified . He often transported slaves and spice to Kala ' uun , a city on the planet Ryloth , as well as to the planet Pavilion . Over the course of his career , Helrot developed a rivalry with the Morseerian smuggler Nabrun Leids . During the war , Helrot was often on the desert world of Tatooine , scouring the Mos Eisley spaceport for information on slaves and spice that needed transport and spending time at Chalmun ' s Spaceport Cantina . He frequently collected cargo on the desert planet and made many deliveries from Tatooine to Ryloth . On a day in 0 BBY , Helrot was in Chalmun ' s cantina concurrently with a number of other smugglers and criminals , including Nabrun Leids . The Givin played a card game with the Abyssin Myo and the Talz Muftak , but he eventually left the game and sat down at a booth with the Gotal Feltipern Trevagg and the H ' nemthe M ' iiyoom Onith . The two were preoccupied with discussing a forthcoming sexual encounter and paid him little mind . The Jedi Master Obi - Wan Kenobi entered the cantina shortly thereafter and was harassed by the pirates Ponda Baba and Dr . Cornelius Evazan . When it escalated into a physical encounter , Onith grew frightened , and she and Trevagg left the establishment . Running the Sisar . In 3 ABY , Helrot and his crew of three aboard the " Hinthra " — two other Givins and a Human male — were invited to the planet Sriluur ' s Meirm City by the Shistavanen smuggler Mal Biron , who was seeking out competent and trustworthy allies . Helrot heeded the call and took the " Hinthra " to Sriluur , where the ship ' s crew touched down and , following instructions sent to their datapad by Biron , made their way to Meirm City ' s Docking Bay 42 . Therein , they joined a larger group of spacers who had all been invited ; Nabrun Leids was among those present . A droid served the motley crew food and drinks , and they ate an uncomfortably silent lunch as they waited for Biron to arrive . During the meal , Biron ' s Duros assistant , Kalend Thora , surveyed the captains present and recorded their identities . Biron eventually descended the boarding ramp of his docked freighter , the " Eyeshine " , and with little preamble told the smugglers what he had planned for them . The Shistavenan claimed that he needed important cargo moved along the Sisar Run hyperlane , and that he had assembled the diverse group to ensure at least some of it arrived at its destination . 5 , 000 credits would be paid to each crew for making the Sisar Run , with an additional 5 , 000 awarded to the first crew to deliver their payload . The crews were to make their way to a secret location to receive their cargo before moving to the Salin Corridor and rendezvousing with the luxury liner " " , where they would drop off their load . With his instructions complete , Biron greeted each of the crews in turn . None of them were aware that he was a Vigo of the Black Sun criminal organization , or that the forthcoming task was in fact a test of their skills and loyalty in preparation for a larger operation that he had planned . Helrot and his crew returned to the " Hinthra " and plugged their datapad into the ship ' s navigation computer . A secret file of Biron ' s then opened and revealed their first destination : the Novolek Beacon , a neutron star in the Periphery region of space . The " Hinthra " arrived at the beacon around the same time as the six other smuggling vessels it faced . Helrot received a signal from a nearby communications satellite , but the neutron star ' s presence was disrupting the signal , and the gathered starships raced to the satellite , all vying for the opportunity to be the first to discover their next destination . It was Nwarcol Point , a refueling station located at the intersection of the Sisar Run and the Salin Corridor , and after intercepting the satellite ' s signal , Helrot and his crew fled into hyperspace . They soon after arrived and docked at Nwarcol , where they were informed by Biron ' s datapad file that the coordinates for " Destination : Adventure ! " would be provided to them in thirty minutes . They located their cargo aboard the station within that time and loaded it aboard the " Hinthra " ; although it was sealed inside a cargo pod , Helrot peeked inside and discovered that the cargo consisted of several unarmed magnetic pulse warheads . When they received their next coordinates , Helrot and his crew traveled along the Salin Corridor toward the luxury liner and emerged from hyperspace concurrently with their opponents — the race remained tight . An Imperial starfighter patrol that consisted of six TIE fighters and a " Guardian " - class light cruiser stood between the smugglers and their destination , but when three pirate ships emerged from hyperspace behind the smugglers , the Imperials , who were being paid off by Black Sun , allowed the smugglers to pass and the pirates . The " Hinthra " was not the first ship to arrive , but Biron nevertheless greeted Helrot and his crew after they docked . He then awarded the winning crew 5 , 000 credits and suggested that everyone retire to the luxury liner ' s lounge for free food and drinks . Once there , Helrot approached the winning crew and invited them into a back hallway , where he told them what he had seen inside the cargo pod . Helrot had calculated the value of a completed warhead to be a high price and offered 10 , 000 credits for the other crew ' s cargo , so that he might arm the weapons himself and reap the consequent profits . The smugglers declined his offer , but Helrot and his crew nonetheless made their way to the luxury liner ' s cargo area . There , they discovered that the cargo had been taken to the " Destination : Adventure ! " galley , where they found it being loaded into a large freezer . Before the group could enter the freezer , they were ambushed by Biron and his enforcers , who had overheard Helrot ' s earlier conversation via planted listening devices . Biron ' s enforcers fired stun bolts at Helrot and his crew and knocked them unconscious . Kalend Thora then announced that the traitors would be interrogated . Personality and traits . A smuggler , merchant , and slaver , Elis Helrot was considered by others to be an unscrupulous individual with ruthless and airtight business practices . He regularly scoured Mos Eisley in search of slaves to be transported , and , while working for Mal Biron , he was prepared to betray the Shistavenan in order to make a handsome profit . During his smuggling career , Helrot was involved in a longstanding feud with rival smuggler Nabrun Leids . Possessed of an analytical mind , he was not easily impressed and was solely concerned with a situation ' s bottom line . Helrot disliked being ignorant of the contents of any cargo that he transported and was willing to beg , borrow , or steal a weapon if he required its use . Helrot was an able pilot and also showed prowess as a mechanic , having made a number of modifications to his ship , the " Hinthra " . Like all members of his species , he revered mathematics . Solving numerical puzzles was one of his favorite pastimes . Another trait that Helrot shared with all Givin was the ability to seal his exoskeleton and survive exposure to the vacuum of space . The white and hairless exoskeleton included a pair of sunken black eyes . Feltipern Trevagg found Helrot to be " ghoulish " in appearance . Behind the scenes . The character who would eventually be known as Elis Helrot was created to be a background character in the cantina scene of the 1977 film " " , later renamed " A New Hope " . The character ' s rubber mask was constructed by makeup artist Rick Baker , whose design was based on concept art by artist Ralph McQuarrie . The mask was worn by an uncredited extra during supplemental shooting for the cantina scene , which was filmed during the movie ' s post - production when director George Lucas decided to liven the scene with more action and additional characters . The alien was nicknamed " Skull Head " on - set and was going to officially be named " Kull , " but the idea was ultimately abandoned . During filming , " Skull Head " sat in a booth with two characters who would later be christened M ' iiyoom Onith and Feltipern Trevagg , but only the latter two characters are clearly visible on - screen in the final cut of the film . Nevertheless , some official sources claim that Helrot appears in " A New Hope " . Following the release of " A New Hope " , photographs of Helrot , Onith , and Trevagg seated together were presented as in - universe pictures in several Expanded Universe sources , thereby canon izing both Helrot ' s existence as a character and his presence in the cantina . The name " Elis Helrot " was developed for the 1995 release of the Decipher , Inc . " Star Wars " Customizable Card Game " Premiere Limited " set . According to a " Star Wars CCG " fan site , Elis Helrot was named as an anagram of Decipher game creator Rollie Tesh . Helrot has additionally been mentioned in several sourcebooks and encyclopedias , as well as in 2001 ' s Jedi Knights Trading Card Game , which established a rivalry between Helrot and Nabrun Leids , another character from " A New Hope " cantina scene . During gameplay , playing a Helrot or a Leids card against the other will force either one or both of the cards to be discarded . In 2007 , a 3 ¾ inch action figure of Helrot was released by Hasbro as part of its " " toy line . " Secrets of the Sisar Run " , a 1997 sourcebook designed to supplement West End Games ' " " , includes Helrot as a non - playable character in the adventure " Running the Sisar " , which fleshes out his character and allows the players opportunities to interact with him . Several aspects of Helrot ' s role in the adventure depend on choices made by both the players and the . When the smugglers journey to Novolek Beacon , the " Hinthra " is definitely one of the first five ships to arrive , and it is among the top four if the player characters experience a slow journey . During the race to the communications satellite , the beacon will be fired upon by the treacherous Az - Iban if the gamemaster designates him the first to arrive . If Az - Iban succeeds in destroying it , the Quor ' sav Kal ' Falnl C ' ndros will intercept the signal in time and share it with the others , including Helrot , for a fee . As the adventure dictates that the player characters be the first to deliver their payload , the gamemaster is encouraged to establish that any ships which arrive at the " Destination : Adventure ! " ahead of the players — possibly including the " Hinthra " — are fired upon and damaged by the pirates , thus allowing the players to overtake them . When Helrot later attempts to strike a deal with the player characters , they have the option to accept his offer , in which case they stumble into Biron ' s trap alongside Helrot and his crew . Such a scenario prevents the players from successfully completing the adventure , and as such , this article assumes that they decline . In addition to his canonical appearances , Helrot makes a brief cameo in the non - canon story " The Emperor ' s Court " , which is included in the comic book " Star Wars Tales 14 " . In the story , he is among the various denizens of the Mos Eisley Cantina who attend a trial of the smuggler Han Solo , accused of shooting first in his murder of the bounty hunter Greedo . Helrot and the other spectators watch as Solo and Greedo ' s mother present evidence respectively based on the Special Edition and the original , unaltered version of " A New Hope " . Although " The Emperor ' s Court " and various other sources acknowledge Helrot ' s presence in the cantina , he is absent in some of " A New Hope " adaptations . The cover of " The Mos Eisley Cantina Pop - Up Book " depicts Onith and Trevagg as being seated with Muftak instead of with Helrot , and its interior shows Onith sitting with Greedo and Ponda Baba . However , Helrot ' s mask does appear , albeit atop a different costume than the one worn by the character for " A New Hope " , in a 1979 drunk - driving PSA set in the Mos Eisley Cantina .