Skelly Skelly was a human male explosives expert who lived on the planet Gorse . A veteran of the Clone Wars , Skelly worked as an explosives expert in the thorilide mines of Cynda during the time of the Galactic Empire . While working as a miner , Skelly conducted research which found that mining activities on Cynda weakened the moon ' s structure . Skelly tried to warn the mining companies to halt mining operations on Cynda . The companies ' continued dismissals of his warnings led him to conduct an unauthorized test bombing in Cynda ' s Zone Forty - Two , intended as a demonstration of the danger . Skelly ' s criticism of the Empire drew him to the attention of the Imperial authorities . However , Skelly managed to evade capture and conduct his test bombing on Zone Forty - Two . From his test , Skelly concluded that prolonged mining would eventually destroy Cynda . Shortly later , he was apprehended by the freighter pilot and Jedi Purge survivor Kanan Jarrus , who was angry that Skelly had endangered the lives of his recovery team . Kanan handed him over to the mining company Moonglow Polychemical , which planned to hand him over to the Imperial authorities . However , Skelly was rescued by the rebel operative Hera Syndulla , who planned to recruit him to the rebellion . Skelly however was solely interesting in saving Cynda and not interested in the wider rebellion against the Empire . After learning that the prominent Imperial industrialist Count Denetrius Vidian was inspecting Moonglow , Skelly infiltrated the refinery and tried to convince the industrialist to end all mining operations on Cynda . However , Vidian attacked him and Skelly then made two attempts to assassinate the Count by bombing two of his shuttles . Skelly managed to escape with the help of Hera and Kanan . After escaping Count Vidian and the Empire , Skelly joined Hera ' s informal rebel cell which also included Kanan and Zaluna Myder , a disgruntled surveillance operator . The rebels soon learned that Vidian had used Skelly ' s research to embark on a plot to detonate Cynda . Working together , Skelly and the rebels managed to infiltrate Vidian ' s headquarters in the Calcoraan system and learned that Vidian planned to use Cynda ' s destruction to advance his own political career . Using this information , the rebels managed to convince the Empire to end its support for Vidian ' s planned detonation . Skelly and his rebel comrades then returned to the Gorse system where Skelly was killed during a final showdown that killed Vidian and ended his conspiracy to destroy Cynda . Biography . Background . Skelly was a Corellian human man who had fought as a demolitions expert during the Clone Wars . At the end of the war , Skelly lost his right hand and had it replaced by a prosthetic one after the Battle of Slag ' s Pit . Thanks to shortages , he received a Klatooinian prosthetic hand instead of a human - compatible one , which due to the incompatibility didn ' t work properly . Due to his experiences , Skelly came to believe that the Clone Wars had been manipulated by powerful corporations and political figures as a pretext for creating the Galactic Empire . Following the Clone Wars , Skelly eventually settled down in Crispus Commons , a run - down housing project created by the Galactic Republic on the planet Gorse to house homeless Clone Wars veterans . Under the Empire , Crispus Commons fell into a state of disrepair . A Troublesome Employee . Following the Clone Wars , the Empire opened Gorse ' s moon Cynda up to thorilide mining after a report produced by the mining consultant Lemuel Tharsa claimed that Gorse had exhausted all its thorilide reserves . In the five years before the Gorse conflict , Skelly worked as a demolitions expert for several mining firms , but was dismissed due to his argumentative personality . Shortly before the Gorse conflict , Skelly was working as a demolitions expert for Dalborg Mining . He used his mining work to conduct research on the effects of blasting on Cynda ' s surface and structure . In 11 BBY , the Imperial efficiency expert Count Denetrius Vidian visited the Gorse system to speed up thorilide production . Meanwhile on Cynda , Skelly tried to convince Moonglow Polychemical ' s chief operations officer Lal Grallik to temporarily suspend blasting operations beyond Zone Forty - Two while he conducted testing there . However , Lal merely brushed aside Skelly ' s concerns . Shortly later , Kanan Jarrus , a secret Jedi Purge survivor who worked as a freighter pilot , arrived with a shipment of baradium bisulfate for Moonglow . When Skelly objected to the use of baradium bisulfate , Kanan ignored his concerns and claimed that he was only interested in meeting a deadline . While traveling with Kanan in an elevator , Skelly also tried to warn Kanan that the prolonged usage of baradium bisulfate would undermine Cynda ' s crystalline structure ; which in his view would have catastrophic ramifications for Gorse . He presented a holodisk containing his research to Kanan but the freighter pilot was unwilling to listen . When Kanan told him to leave him alone , a frustrated Skelly remarked that the Empire had better watch out or it would have a real disaster on his hand . An annoyed Kanan then punched Skelly in the face before exiting the elevator . Unfortunately , Skelly ' s remarks were recorded by a Myder ' s Mynocks operator , a surveillance division of the media company Transcept Media Solutions . The operator on duty informed her supervisor , Zaluna Myder , who promptly contacted the local Imperial authorities . Meanwhile , Skelly headed to his workplace at Dalborg Mining ' s claim in Zone Thirty - Nine . Dalborg ' s foreman , Tarlor Choh , was hurrying the miners to prepare for an upcoming inspection by Count Vidian . While Skelly was attaching some baradium charges to a large thorilide diamond column , four stormtrooper s arrived with orders to arrest Skelly for the charge of " speaking to the detriment of the Empire . " Imperial Entanglements . Tarlor saw this as an opportunity to dismiss Skelly , whom he regarded as a troublesome employee . Before the stormtroopers could take him into Imperial custody , Skelly used a remote control to detonate the charges he had been working on . The stormtroopers were crushed by the diamond cluster and the debris from the cave , as Skelly fled into a service shaft connected to a series of ventilation tunnels and routes which led to Cynda ' s Zone Forty - Two . Despite falling into trouble with the Empire , Skelly was still determined to carry out his test bombing , and detonated a time bomb in Zone Forty - Two . Skelly ' s unauthorized test bombing caused Zone Forty - Two ' s ceiling to cave in , producing tremors that caused dangerous seams to open in some of the floors higher up . As a result , Count Vidian issued orders to arrest Skelly for endangering mining operations on Cynda . Meanwhile , Kanan , the freighter pilot , who had earlier assaulted Skelly , and another miner named Yelkin , were caught up in the test bombing but managed to survive due to Kanan ' s Force powers . Skelly survived the cave - in , hiding away aboard Kanan ' s freight hauler , " Expedient " . Kanan , shaken by both the explosion and his use of the Force to survive it , decided to return to the ship , and was surprised by Skelly while flying back to Gorse . Unwilling to get into trouble with the Empire due to his status as a Jedi fugitive , Kanan decided to hand Skelly over to Moonglow security . Skelly tried to plead with Kanan that he had saved his life , but Kanan was unmoved . When Skelly argued that he had carried out the test - bombing in Zone Forty - Two because Moonglow was not supposed to be working there until the following day , Kanan pointed out that the Empire had doubled their quota ; forcing them to change their schedule . In an attempt to alert the Empire to his research , Skelly tried to hail the nearby Imperial Star Destroyer " Ultimatum " . Skelly believed that Count Vidian was a fixer who would suspend all mining operations on Cynda and embark on an investigation . However , Kanan did not share his idealistic sentiments and instead pulled out his blaster , securing Skelly into his seat . Kanan informed Skelly that he was taking the " Expedient " back to Moonglow ' s shipyard on Gorse , where he planned to turn Skelly over to Moonglow ' s security chief Gord Grallik , who was Lal ' s husband . An Unlikely Escape . Upon arriving at Moonglow ' s shipyard , Kanan handed a gagged and bound Skelly over to Gord . Lal and Gord then contacted Count Vidian via hologram to inform him that they had captured the fugitive . While pleased , Vidian informed the Gralliks that he would be coming to inspect Moonglow Polychemical as part of his planned tour of Gorse . After the hologram conversation , Skelly asked his captors why they had not allowed him to speak to Vidian . When Skelly warned them that he would tell Vidian about the mining firms ' use of baradium bisulfate on Cynda , Gord told his wife to ignore Skelly ' s threats . Before the Empire could pick up Skelly , the rebel operative Hera Syndulla hired a local criminal gang called the Sarlaccs to attack the Moonglow refinery and harass the company ' s security forces . While the Gralliks were distracted , Hera infiltrated the courtyard and freed Skelly from his restraints . Skelly was initially disappointed because he hoped that Vidian would listen to his concerns . However , Hera told him to flee and promised him that she would find him . Unbeknownst to Skelly , Hera slipped a tracking device into the utility pocket on his left shoulder . Despite his misgivings , Skelly took the opportunity to return to Crispus Commons . His apartment had been ransacked by Imperial stormtroopers , but Skelly had a different hideout : an old bomb shelter accessible though a sewer grate behind the garbage bin at one end of the apartment complex ' s courtyard , which Skelly had appropriated for his own use some time before . After eating a meager meal of tinned foot paste , Skelly prepared to go to bed on a floor mat . This was when Hera , who had come to recruit him into the rebellion , arrived . However , she found that Skelly was only interested in saving Cynda from destruction . Based on his research , Skelly claimed that prolonged mining would eventually destroy Cynda due to its fragile structure . He alleged that a " thorilide triangle " consisting of the mining companies , shipwrights , and the Galactic Empire were conspiring to suppress this information due to their shared interests in profit . Skelly then went on to allege that corporate interests had started the Clone Wars . Despite her antipathy towards the Empire , Hera dismissed Skelly as a conspiracy theorist and left to meet with her local contact Hetto at The Asteroid Belt cantina in Gorse City . Instead , Hera met Kanan and Zaluna , who informed the former that Hetto had been arrested by the Empire . However , she had in her possession a datacube containing information that Hetto had accumulated about the Empire . Later , Skelly headed to The Asteroid Belt , from which he had previously been banned by Okadiah Garson , where he attempted to convince Kanan to lend him his Moonglow ID . Believing that he could relate to Count Vidian because he was a cyborg , Skelly wanted to convince Vidian to end all thorilide operations on Cynda in order to save the moon from further damage . However , Kanan and Hera refused to support Skelly ' s plan , which they regarded as naïve , idealistic and reckless . Despite their differences with Skelly , Kanan and Hera still hid the dissident explosives expert from a stormtrooper patrol . Skelly managed to mislead the stormtroopers by pretending to be an inebriated Wookiee who had been locked in a closet after getting drunk on Trandoshan ale . Despite being unable to convince Kanan to lend him his Moonglow ID , Skelly was still determined to see Count Vidian . With the help of a disgruntled restaurateur named Drakka , Skelly managed to infiltrate the Moonglow refinery through the sewers . Dealing with Count Vidian . After infiltrating the Moonglow refinery , Skelly managed to corner Count Vidian , who was waiting outside a heavy - duty bulk - loader transport while Lal was showing Captain Sloane the vehicle ' s cab interior . The cyborg Vidian managed to sense the dissident miner due to his advanced in - built sensors . Skelly gave Vidian the holodisk containing his research that showed that Cynda would be torn apart by the extreme gravitational pull from Gorse if thorilide mining on the moon continued . Vidian swatted it away and then used his mechanically enhanced strength to badly injure Skelly by throwing and punching the miner . Despite being badly bruised and wounded , Skelly managed to escape into the refinery ' s conveyor belt system before Sloane and her stormtroopers could apprehend him . He managed to return to the sewer . Realizing that Vidian ' s reputation as a rational - minded management expert who listened to everyone and everything was a lie , Skelly resolved to kill Vidian after attending to his own wounds with a medpac . Before Vidian could leave the Moonglow refinery , Skelly bombed his Imperial shuttle " Truncheon " , which was parked outside Moonglow . While several stormtroopers were killed , Vidian survived due to his cybernetic body . After failing to kill Vidian , Skelly fled on a stolen Imperial speeder bike to a nearby Imperial spaceport at Highground , where Vidian had arranged for a second shuttle called " Cudgel " to pick him up . Vidian , Sloane , and the remaining stormtroopers soon arrived on a hoverbus , as did Kanan and Hera , who were tailing the Count . Despite his serious injuries and great pain , Skelly managed to hurl a bomb at the " Cudgel " and destroy the shuttle . However , Vidian , Sloane , and their men managed to escape before the shuttle exploded . Skelly also lost control of his bike and crashed into the hoverbus . Before Vidian could finish off Skelly , Hera , and Kanan , the Count was accosted by Gord Grallik , the husband of Lal . Vidian had earlier murdered Lal after she informed him that Moonglow could not meet the Emperor ' s newly tripled quota . Gord attempted to arrest Vidian , but the Count ordered his stormtroopers to kill the security chief . Gord managed to kill several stormtroopers with his blasters and sonic grenade before being killed by the Count himself . With Vidian preoccupied , Skelly and his companions took the opportunity to flee the spaceport in the hoverbus . With Hera manning the hoverbus , the rebels fled the spaceport . Despite being pursued by several Imperial Troop Transport s and two TIE fighters , the rebels managed to outmanuever their pursuers and reach a quarry on the outskirts of Gorse City . Upon disembarking , they realised that the Sullustan Zaluna had accidentally stowed along , having been locked inside the hoverbus ' toilet while trying to hide from some stormtroopers the night before . Zaluna quickly recognized Skelly as the bomber , as she had processed the surveillance that got him arrested . Fearful of retribution , Zaluna pulled out a blaster and told Kanan and Hera to keep Skelly away from her . However , Kanan assured Zaluna that Skelly posed no harm since he was in bad shape due to his injuries . Joining a rebel cell . Following their escape from Count Vidian , Skelly and his rebel companions sought refuge in the attic above Okadiah ' s cantina , The Asteroid Belt . While Skelly attended to his wounds at a wash basin , Hera established an informal cell consisting of herself , Kanan , and Skelly . They were joined by Zaluna , who had been distraught to learn that she had been suspended due to her friendship with Hetto . After downloading the contents of the recording device from the hoverbus , the rebels discovered that Count Vidian was planning to destroy Cynda so that his comet - chasers could directly harvest the thorilide in space . Skelly was horrified that Vidian had stolen his research and was intending to use it to destroy Cynda . While Kanan and Hera were skeptical , Skelly was backed - up by Zaluna , who recalled that her mother had told her that the moon was brittle and could one day break up . Despite his poor physical shape , Skelly was still determined to stop the Empire and toyed with the idea of blowing up the baradium explosives plant near the spaceport . However , Hera counselled against this idea and pointed out that the Empire had other sources of explosives besides Gorse . While Skelly and his friends were watching the Gorse skyline , they witnessed an explosion on Cynda , which was followed by a ground quake The rebels quickly realized that the Empire had been responsible for the explosion and departed on Kanan ' s ship " Expedient " for Cynda . The explosion had originated at the site of the thorilide mining facility on the moon . Kanan ' s friend Okadiah had been part of a shift that had traveled to Cynda shortly before the explosion . Upon landing on the moon , the rebels found a dying Okadiah , who informed them that the Empire had planted explosives in the moon ' s Zone Sixty - Six . Meanwhile , Count Vidian and Captain Sloane decided that the test was a success . Vidian ' s mining consultant Lemuel Tharsa had produced a report claiming that the planet ' s thorilide crystals would not be damaged by the detonation . Unknown to Sloane , Tharsa was a pseudonym for Vidian , who had fabricated the results as part of a conspiracy to discredit his rival Baron Danthe and curry the Emperor ' s favor . Based on these fake results , Captain Sloane decided to support Vidian ' s plans . Vidian ordered all empty mining cargo ships in the Gorse system to follow Sloane ' s Star Destroyer " Ultimatum " to the Calcoraan system , where Vidian owned a depot full of baradium - 357 explosives . To cover up Vidian ' s planned detonation , the Empire claimed that the Count was leading the Mining Guild in a " heroic " effort to stabilize Cynda . The explosion was also blamed on Moonglow ' s incompetence , giving the Empire the pretext to nationalize the company and its assets . After hearing Vidian ' s orders on the intercom , the rebels made a collective decision to take the " Expedient " to Count Vidian ' s depot in an attempt to foil his plot to blow up the moon . After Skelly and his companions infiltrated the space station , the group sought out Vidian ' s personal quarters . Hera and Kanan went up to confront Vidian while Zaluna and Skelly waited . Kanan and Hera fought the cyborg , but lost . However , Skelly and Zaluna used one of the Count ' s interrogator droids to inject him with a sleeping serum . After he passed out , the rebels bound him to a table , downloading his memory from the data chips in his brain onto a terminal and holoprojector where they could view them . They then discovered Count Vidian ' s deception and double life . The group proceeded to trick and capture Captain Sloane . Posing as an agent of the Emperor , Kanan told Sloane about Vidian ' s deception and convinced her to send the original test results to the Emperor Saving Cynda . Racing back to the Gorse system aboard the " Expedient " , the rebels decided to disrupt Count Vidian ' s ships by harrying the mining ships delivering the baradium - 357 to Cynda ' s surface . After Kanan engaged several TIE fighters in a dogfight , he managed to land the " Expedient " in the rear hangar of Vidian ' s ship " Forager " . The " Forager " was a comet - chaser mining vessel which Vidian had brought to Cynda with the intention of harvesting the moon ' s thorilide following the detonation . He knew that the thorilide crystals would deteriorate and wanted the comet - chaser industry , which he controlled , to capitalize on this temporary boom . Vidian hoped to blame the ensuing fallout on Baron Danthe and Captain Sloane in order to boost his own political career . After their forced landing , Skelly and his rebel companions fought their way through the factory floor of the ship and began to climb a ladder . The badly wounded Skelly began to slow down . When stormtroopers below opened fire , he lost his grip and fell towards the factory floor , out of sight . The rest of the group thought that their comrade was dead and continued on their mission . They battled Vidian until Captain Sloane ordered her men to sever the detonation link and arrest Vidian for crimes against the Empire . With the help of Baron Danthe , Sloane had managed to forward the results to the Emperor ; who withdrew his approval for Vidian ' s project . When Vidian defied her and ordered his crew to go ahead with the detonation , Sloane ordered the Imperial fleet to bombard the " Forager " ; effectively leaving Vidian ' s plans in tatters . In the midst of the chaos , Skelly ' s companions Kanan , Hera , and Zaluna managed to flee in an escape pod . Meanwhile , Skelly survived his fall and the subsequent bombardment that engulfed the " Forager " . On board the " Expedient " , Skelly encountered a weakened and battered Vidian crawling up the freighter ' s ramp . Despite his setback , Vidian was still determined to proceed with his plan to destroy Cynda by using the " Expedient " load of baradium - 357 . Despite his serious injuries , Skelly managed to grab onto Vidian ' s leg with his prosthetic hand . After looking out the magnetic seal to see Cynda , he hit the button on a detonator that ran via wire to the explosives in the ship . Skelly , along with Vidian , were killed in the ensuing explosion that destroyed the " Forager " . Through the Force , Kanan immediately knew that Skelly had detonated the explosives on the " Expedient " , destroying it and the " Forager " , and perished during the explosion . Personality and traits . Skelly was a human male with red hair , light skin , and a scarred , pockmarked face . At the end of the Clone Wars , he lost his right hand and had it replaced with a prosthetic intended for Klatooinian s . Nerve damage from the botched operation prevented the replacement of a human - compatible prosthetic . Since the hand was intended for a very different species , it did not work properly , having a tendency to not loosen its grip when latched on to something . Skelly was also known to have two missing teeth . Following the Clone Wars , Skelly worked as a demolitions expert for several mining companies in the Gorse system . Due to his work , he frequently traveled between his home on Gorse and the Cynda mines . Skelly also had an argumentative personality that created tensions with his employers and caused him to move between several jobs . In his free time , Skelly used his knowledge of explosives to undertake research on the effects of blasting operations on Cynda . Based on these results , he concluded that mining endangered Cynda ' s existence and had to stop . After the mining companies ignored his warnings , Skelly came to believe that there was a " thorilide triangle " consisting of the mining companies , shipwrights , and the Imperial Navy , who placed profits above the environment . Skelly compiled his research in a holodisk and a series of notes that festooned the walls of his hideout in Crispus Commons ' old bomb shelter . In addition , Skelly claimed that the corporations had engineered the Clone Wars in order to sell off surplus stock . He also naively believed that the Imperial Count Vidian would be willing to listen to his research about Cynda due to the latter ' s exaggerated reputation as a fixer and rational thinker . As a cyborg , he believed that he could relate to the cyborg Count . While trying to reason with Count Vidian , Skelly sustained serious damage to his face and chest . In addition , Skelly also lost several more teeth , dislocated his jaw , and sustained several broken ribs . Despite his battered and bruised conditions , Skelly was still determined to fight Vidian and made three attempts to kill the Imperial industrialist . On the third occasion , he managed to kill Vidian with a bomb that destroyed the " Forager " . Skelly himself was killed during the explosion , but died knowing that he had saved Cynda and many lives on Gorse from destruction . Skills and abilities . Skelly was a demolitions expert who was skilled with handling explosives . Due to his line of work , he was aware of the destructive effects of explosives like baradium bisulfate and baradium - 357 . In addition , Skelly could ride a speeder bike despite suffering serious injuries at the hands of Count Vidian . Skelly also knew how to treat his own wounds with a medpac and also used injections to increase his adrenaline . Despite his lack of formal education , Skelly accurately identified the damaging effects of mining on the moon Cynda . Behind the scenes . Skelly was first introduced in " A New Dawn " , a novel written by John Jackson Miller ; the novel , released on September 2 , 2014 , was the first novel of the official " Star Wars " canon first announced on April 25 , 2014 . Skelly was a member of the Republic military service during the Clone Wars but was not a clone trooper , instead written as a character who functioned as a combat engineer who supported clone troopers . He was originally conceived as a Klatooinian . Despite this , Miller felt that he had an appearance that was somewhat Klatooinian . Miller compared to the character to a " or miner " who performed a " Dangerous , messy job . "