Jaum Jaum was a male gangster who was active during the Galactic Civil War . He had taken over the Outer Rim planet of Andelm IV , enslaving its inhabitants so they would mine Andelm beetle s for him . Those creatures contained substances that could power blaster s , and Jaum sold those rare resources to the Galactic Empire . The crime lord ' s dominion over Andelm IV faced little opposition until a young human girl named Zarro escaped the beetle caverns and enlisted the help of the Wookiee warrior Chewbacca . Biography . A deal with the Empire . The gangster Jaum controlled the planet Andelm IV during the Galactic Civil War between the Galactic Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic , paying off the world ' s council to turn a blind eye to his activities . He provided financial services to various inhabitants of the planet , but following the Battle of Yavin , he changed his repayment system so that none of his clients could afford to repay their loans , blaming the changes on the devaluation of the Imperial credit . He then forced those who could not pay to work off their debt in his Andelm beetle caverns , where they were forced to harvest the mineral dedlanite from Andelm beetle s . Jaum planned to sell to the Empire and contacted them with the promise of large quantities of high quality product . Jaum and his Shistavanen bodyguard Tyvak personally visited the debtor Arrax and his daughter Zarro to inform them that they would have to work in the caves ; however , several days after the pair began working , Zarro escaped , stealing one of Jaum ' s speeder s . She later attempted to trade the vehicle to a Besalisk junk dealer who recognized it as belonging to Jaum and contacted the gangster . Jaum cared little about the speeder , but requested that Zarro be captured and returned to him . After the junk dealer failed to apprehend the run away , Jaum sent Tyvak and several of his men to search near where Zarro had been sighted . After Tyvak returned without having found Zarro , he and Jaum traveled far from Andelm IV ' s spaceport to meet with representatives of the Galactic Empire , as neither party wished to be seen consorting with the other . Jaum provided the Imperials with samples of dedlanite , which they took away in order for testing , requesting that he wait for them to contact him . Dealing with labor issues . The next day , Zarro was caught attempting to sneak back into the caves and was brought before Jaum , who ordered that she be returned to work . Arrax then came to Jaum begging that he let Zarro live , but the gangster revealed he had no interest in killing her and she and the other workers would be bundled with the caves and sold to the Empire . Jaum assumed that they would then be replaced by droid s and shipped off to work elsewhere in the Empire . This revelation caused another of the workers to attempt to attack Jaum with a spade , but the gangster shot the worker with a blaster pistol before he came within striking distance . The remaining workers fled into the mines with Jaum ' s men in pursuit , but were attacked by the Wookiee Chewbacca , who had befriended Zarro during her brief stint of freedom . One of the thugs managed to escape the fight and brought word of the attack to Jaum , who assumed the man was under the effects of spice and shot him . He then prepared for Chewbacca ' s exit of the mines by having Tyvak place several containers of the explosive beetle larvae around the mine entrance , although the bodyguard used more than the gangster would have liked . As soon as Chewbacca emerged , Tyvak shot the containers , causing a large explosion that collapsed the cave entrance . Calling in help . Assuming that his work force and Chewbacca were dead , Jaum left the caverns in a speeder with Tyvak , explaining to his bodyguard that once the Empire were working with him they could easily replace the lost workers with prisoners . The pair then retired to a cantina , where the gangster sat with two Devaronian girls , but as he relaxed his men brought before him the worker he had earlier shot . The worker revealed that the work force and Chewbacca had survived the blast , after which Jaum disconnected one of the tubes connected to his helmet and used it release gas into the workers , face , causing the man great pain and leaving him writhing on the floor . Unconcerned with the worker , Jaum then ordered Tyvak to gather his men in his hangar bay while he contacted the Empire using a deep space transmission . He got through to Imperial Commander Kai , who was displeased that Jaum was making contact , but agreed to sent Imperial reinforcements as an investment into the mine . Kai then traveled on board an " Imperial " - class Star Destroyer to the star system Andelm IV was located in and then sent down an All Terrain Scout Transport with a contingent of scout trooper s and stormtrooper s to shut down Andelm IV ' s spaceport and meet with Jaum in his hangar bay . Disguised as mercenaries , Chewbacca and Zarro managed to bluff their way into the hangar as well , and immediately ran into Jaum and the Imperials . The pair claimed that they had been brought in to provide security for the hangar , and Jaum assumed the Empire had hired them , but when the stormtroopers with him knew nothing about the arrangement , Jaum order Zarro to remove her helmet . To prevent their identities being exposed , Chewbacca opened fire on the Imperials , killing several and causing Jaum to flee . During the distraction Zarro sent the R5 repair droid " Boomer " , who she had filled with explosives , to board the " Sentinel " - class landing craft sent for Jaum , planning to detonate the droid once it was onboard Kai ' s Star Destroyer . Before the astromech droid could finish boarding it was shot and ceased to move half way up the starship ' s ramp . Jaum then ordered that the shuttle take off , as he had completed loading it with dedlanite , but Tyvak refused , claiming they should kill Chewbacca first so he could not pursue them . The bodyguard attacked the Wookiee , but was quickly defeated after Chewbacca maneuvered him in front of the shuttle ' s engine s , which activated and set Tyvak on fire . While Jaum attempted to bargain with the Wookiee , Zarro managed to reactivate Boomer , allowing him to board the shuttle , which then took off after Jaum ran aboard . Framed and imprisoned . Jaum then traveled to Kai ' s Star Destroyer , where he collected an initial payment from the Imperials and then began preparing to leave . When he entered one of the Destroyer ' s landing bays to inform Kai of his departure , he discovered the commander speaking with Zarro and Chewbacca , who had been captured by Imperial scout troopers , but freed themselves after being brought on board the Star Destroyer Zarro had convinced Kai that Jaum was truly a Rebel spy , and that his shuttle was rigged to explode , which was given support when Boomer detonated and destroyed the shuttle and landing bay , bringing down the force field that separated it from space . Kai , Jaum and a stormtrooper were able to reach safety in a turbolift , while Chewbacca and Zarro escaped in a TIE / sa bomber . Jaum was then placed in a cell , where he tried unsuccessfully to convince Kai that it was Zarro and Chewbacca who were Rebels . When the gangster requested they return to the surface where he could provide proof , Kai refused , fearing another ambush . He then brought an IT - O Interrogation Unit which he explained to Jaum would be torturing him for weeks while the Star Destroyer traveled without a working hyperdrive toward the nearest Imperial base . Personality and traits . Jaum was a green skinned individual with orange eye s . While on Andelm IV , a planet with an atmosphere breathable to human s , Jaum wore a sealed helmet , filled with gas that caused humans pain on contact . When one of his own men reported that Chewbacca was attacking , Jaum killed him , blaming himself for the guard ' s incompetence as he had knowingly hired spice addicts . He considered Tyvak a friend , and became angry when Chewbacca set him on fire but then immediately offered to pay Chewbacca the body guard ' s share if he stopped attacking . Behind the scenes . Jaum first appeared as the central antagonist in the comic book mini - series " " , which was written by Gerry Duggan , illustrated by Phil Noto and released in 2015 . He appeared in all five issues of the series , none of which identified his species .