Voren Na ' al / Legends Voren Na ' al was a prominent Human male historian in the service of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and its various successor governments . He began his career as a reporter for the Galactic News Service . His experiences and imprisonment during the Imperial overthrow of the government of Corsin drove him into the arms of the Alliance . There , after a stint as a spy , he became a historian under Master Historian Arhul Hextrophon , tasked with compiling the histories of the Heroes of Yavin . Na ' al traveled to Tatooine and Galvoni III to acquire information and context on the events preceding the battle , and conducted interviews with the participants , submitting the information in a report to Hextrophon . Subsequent reports included an attempt to discover the truth behind Han Solo and Chewbacca ' s adventures on Aduba - 3 , a 168 , 000 DSU report on the Rebel Alliance for Mon Mothma , an account of the events surrounding the Battle of Hoth and the tribulations of the Heroes of Yavin afterward , a piece on the Battle of Turak IV , and a report on the Battle of Endor . With the dawn of the New Republic , Na ' al ' s historical works led him to continued advancement . He became the Director of New Republic Council Research and Assistant Historian to the Republic , and he created reports on Grand Admiral Thrawn ' s and the resurrected Palpatine ' s campaigns , as well as of Han Solo ' s experiences in the Corporate Sector years before . He also compiled the " Oral History of the New Republic " , and later edited and annotated " , " an article by the Chief Historian of the Kellmer Institute . Na ' al retired as Head of New Republic Council Research , becoming a history professor and marrying former deep - cover spy Rivoche Tarkin , with whom he had several children . After the Yuuzhan Vong War , he became archivist emeritus of the Historical Council of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances , in which capacity he supervised the release of the second edition of an important historical chronicle . Biography . Early life . Voren Na ' al was the son of a Human family devastated by the Clone Wars . Na ' al lost grandparents , aunts , and uncles in that conflict that he never had the opportunity to meet . As a result , he carried some prejudice regarding the idea of cloning into adulthood . Even as a boy , he was interested in the causes of galactic events . History and journalism became hobbies of his , nurtured by his journalism teacher , Arhul Hextrophon . His hobbies soon blossomed into a fledgling career , as Na ' al became a stringer for the Galactic News Service . On the planet Corsin in the Greater Plooriod Cluster , Na ' al was first exposed to the depredations of the Galactic Empire . Na ' al was fortunate to get an assignment covering the prestigious swoop races there . While covering the opening matches , a platoon of stormtroopers burst into the press area and placed everyone under arrest . Na ' al was kept in a detention cell for three weeks , visited only occasionally by an interrogation droid that asked no questions . No reasons were ever given for his incarceration , but later , Na ' al discovered that the Galactic Empire had deposed the government of the world and replaced it with one dedicated to the New Order , dispensing with civil rights and placing the entire population under a police state . The imprisonment of the journalists had been a method of keeping them silent . Na ' al was disturbed by this event , and realized he had two options : quit reporting and ignore the growing tyranny of the Empire , or go all - out and show the galaxy what the Empire was becoming . Before he had the opportunity to pursue the more reckless path , he had a chance encounter with his old teacher , Arhul Hextrophon . Hextrophon had been with the Alliance to Restore the Republic since its inception , and convinced Na ' al that the young reporter could make a difference in the Galactic Civil War by joining the Rebellion . Historian for the Rebellion . Na ' al was initially made a spy , but was soon placed in the Historian Corp , a special Rebel squad under Major Hextrophon , the Alliance ' s Master Historian . While still freshly recruited , Na ' al made the acquaintance of a Rebel - sympathizing Imperial cadet named Biggs Darklighter . When Darklighter discovered that Rivoche Tarkin , the niece of Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin , was quite willing to spy for the Alliance , he put her in contact with Na ' al . Rivoche ' s precarious position as a deep cover spy meant that Na ' al was one of the few Rebels who knew of her existence , and also one of the most vocal advocates for extracting her before the Empire realized her role . Within a few years of joining the Rebellion , Na ' al had earned the rank of Lieutenant . He and Hextrophon were at Massassi Outpost on Yavin 4 following the Alliance ' s victory over the Empire ' s Death Star battlestation at the Battle of Yavin . After the battle , they participated in the ceremony awarding the Medal of Bravery to Luke Skywalker , Han Solo and Chewbacca . Na ' al was responsible for bearing one of the medals , which General Jan Dodonna handed to Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan , who awarded it to Skywalker . Hextrophon assigned Na ' al to write an account of the Battle of Yavin and the events surrounding it , for inclusion into the " Official History of the Rebellion , Volume One " . Starting from the Rebel base at Thila , Na ' al took a circuitous route via Yuga 2 and the " Kuari Princess " to Tatooine to begin his research , under the guise of being a reporter for the Imperial News Bureau . On Tatooine , he encountered the Squib trader Macemillian - winduarté and his business partner , the Jawa Aguilae , trying to peddle two droids , which Na ' al succumbed to purchasing . By chance , these droids happened to be R5 - D4 and an EG - 6 power droid , both of which had been present when Jawas had captured and subsequently sold the droids R2 - D2 and C - 3PO to Skywalker ' s family . After thoroughly cleaning the two droids and interviewing them for all relevant information , he gave the power droid to a needy moisture farmer , and sold R5 - D4 to Tour Aryon ' s assistant administrator , where the droid spied for the Alliance . While in Mos Eisley , he sought out Chalmun ' s Spaceport Cantina , and interviewed several of the patrons therein . He then traveled to the Imperial bureaucratic hub of Galvoni III , where he sliced into restricted computer files at the Imperial Records Office to acquire an overview of the first Death Star and its crew , only narrowly escaping capture . Upon his return to Thila , Na ' al conducted interviews with the Heroes of Yavin themselves , including an interview with Luke Skywalker conducted from the gunner ' s seat of Skywalker ' s airspeeder during a patrol of the planet . All the information he acquired on his journey was compiled in a report to Hextrophon . At some point following the Battle of Yavin , individuals on Tatooine were accused of being Na ' al and his companions , and subsequently wanted for questioning by the planet ' s Imperial authorities . Imperial Prefect Eugene Talmont was investigating a datatape left by Na ' al on a prior journey to Tatooine , and hoped to interrogate the suspects so he would not have to spend time decoding the tapes . Encouraged to bribe Imperial government agent Beeyon Nace for information at Chalmun ' s Cantina , the suspects learned that the Prefect placed a 1000 bounty on Na ' al . Learning Talmont kept the tapes within the planet ' s Regional Government Offices , the suspects subsequently broke into the building in order to tamper with them . The tapes were decoded and Talmont found their apparent contents — a result of the individuals ' tampering — to be completely worthless , and the suspects were let go in what was considered a case of mistaken identity . In 2 ABY , Na ' al was tasked by Hextrophon to ascertain the truth of Han Solo and Chewbacca ' s adventures on Aduba - 3 . Impressed with his work , Hextrophon tasked Na ' al with generating an executive summary of a 168 , 000 DSU report on the growth , organization , equipment , activities and objectives of the Alliance for Mon Mothma herself . Na ' al completed the summary in 3 ABY . Na ' al was relocated from the base on Thila to Echo Base on Hoth . General Carlist Rieekan , realizing his job as a historian was largely a passive one , put him to work , first on courier duty delivering messages between ranking personnel while the station ' s communication equipment was still being adapted to the cold , and later in other noncombatant capacities . He was present in the command center when Bervin , a Rebel maintaining watch from one of the base ' s many perimeter posts , sent in a brief , panicked comlink call . He accompanied Major Bren Derlin to Bervin ' s post , only to find the sentry gone , with a blood trail leading through a caved - in wall into the Hoth night . Further attacks on sentries occurred , followed by the actual assault : a pack of Wampas bursting through the snowy walls of the base , driven into berserker rages by the high - pitched acoustic signaling of the base ' s astromech droids . The beasts outside Echo Base were driven off by the determination and weaponry of the Rebel forces , while the ones that had made it into the base were rounded up with recordings of the droids , stunned to incapacitation , and penned in non - vital areas . Na ' al was again in the command center when General Solo brought in the remains of the self - destructed Viper probe droid . As a noncombatant , Na ' al was supposed to evacuate aboard the Rebel transport " Quantum Storm " , the first transport off the icy world . Instead , he remained behind , assisting the evacuation efforts of the other transports and gathering holo - recordings of the Battle of Hoth from the trenches , though before long he discarded his holorecorder and datapad for the comfort of a blaster rifle . In the course of the battle , he broke his ankle in a cave - in , but successfully made it to the " Thon ' s Orchard " , one of the final transports to escape . He waited patiently at the rendezvous point for the Heroes of Yavin , who eventually arrived , allowing him to continue his research and write a detailed account of their travails . For his part in the Battle of Hoth , he was awarded the Mantooine medal of bravery , and his recordings helped Rebel tacticians analyze the battle . Several years after the Battle of Turak IV , Na ' al was tasked with researching the events of the battle . Na ' al interviewed Commander Torv Keist , a survivor of the Hitak Harriers , the Rebel unit that participated in the battle . Na ' al also infiltrated the Halowan trans - system data storage library by posing as an agent of the Fakir sector ' s moff , in order to gather information on the forces of General Maltaz , including the two battalions of the Hell ' s Hammers that were involved in the attack on Turak IV . Following the difficult battles of 3 and 4 ABY , Na ' al wrote detailed accounts of the Battle of Hoth and the Battle of Endor , which joined his record of Yavin . He brought news of the death of Emperor Palpatine to Tatooine during the celebration that followed Diew Rejeff ' s return to Mos Eisley . After Endor . After the events at Endor , Na ' al was tasked with presenting the report to the Provisional Council of the Alliance of Free Planets regarding the Invasion of Bakura . Na ' al ' s report , the conclusions of which advocated suppressing information about the Ssi - ruu k to the galaxy at large and committing a task force to negotiate with the Ssi - ruuvi Imperium from a position of strength , was provocative , leading to a challenge by Councilor Borsk Fey ' lya that Na ' al rebuffed . Following the believed death of Boba Fett and the Alliance ' s confiscation of his starship , " Slave I " , Na ' al was in a position to influence what happened to the vessel . Lando Calrissian attempted to persuade Na ' al that the ship should be rented to carnivals . Na ' al was nearly convinced by Calrissian ' s idea , but Admiral Ackbar vetoed the plan . When Moff Abran Balfour was deposed by the Laramus Base Irregulars mercenary organization , Na ' al was dispatched to Parmic sector to examine the Moff ' s stronghold and any Imperial records stored there . While sifting through those files , he accidentally triggered a defense mechanism which opened a trapdoor , dropping him into the midst of Balfour ' s menagerie and leading the timid historian to loudly scream in a manner humorous to the Irregulars . According to General Airen Cracken , this made Na ' al " uniquely qualified to discuss non - sentient life forms , " a joke which Na ' al did not find very funny . Prior to the Liberation of Coruscant , Na ' al interviewed Wedge Antilles regarding the life of Baron Soontir Fel for the historian ' s " Oral History of the New Republic " . This work also contained an interview with General Lando Calrissian regarding his victory over Norulac pirates at the Battle of Taanab . Voren Na ' al was eventually promoted to the positions of Director of New Republic Council Research and Assistant Historian to the Republic . He compiled reports on the campaigns of Grand Admiral Thrawn against the New Republic as well of those of the cloned Palpatine . He also began growing close to former New Republic Intelligence Service agent Rivoche Tarkin , who provided him with firsthand accounts of the devastation of Coruscant in her new profession as journalist . Shortly after the Battle of Mon Calamari , Na ' al interviewed Han Solo on New Ralltiir regarding his exploits in the Corporate Sector , hoping to gather information useful to New Republic forces expanding into that region . He prepared for this interview by compiling a report on Solo ' s Imperial Navy career from records captured by New Republic Intelligence at the Ompersan data vault ; he later sent this information to Hextrophon . At some point following the final defeat of Palpatine , Na ' al interviewed retired Governor - General Nahdonnis Praji of Kaikielius , during which Praji recounted his only encounter with the reborn Emperor . In 17 ABY , Academician Na ' al , in cooperation with New Republic Intelligence , edited and annotated " , " an article by Donn Gulek , Chief Historian of the Kellmer Institute . This article , which detailed the structure of the New Republic after its most recent internal reorganization , was included in a NRI dossier on the Black Fleet Crisis . Na ' al eventually retired as Head of New Republic Council Research , becoming a history professor . He and Rivoche Tarkin were married , and had several children together . Their son Gideon , named after Rivoche ' s father , later co - authored " " with Dr . Corellia Antilles . Nearly ten years after the destruction of Mount Tantiss , he enlisted the help of one of his students , the Devaronian Pollo Tipn , in investigating for Mon Mothma some unusual reports emanating from the Kathol sector , reports connected to Grand Admiral Thrawn . Following the Yuuzhan Vong War , Na ' al became the archivist emeritus of the Historical Council of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances . He oversaw the release of the second edition of an important historical chronicle , around the time of the events of the Killik conflict . This record included a comprehensive discussion of the Jedi and Sith conflict . For Tionne Solusar ' s 40 ABY to the Force , Na ' al provided information on a Jedi who arrived on Dathomir in 30 BBY , identifying him as Quinlan Vos and indicating he stopped a Nightsister named Zalem from using the ancient Infinity Gate to devastate Coruscant . However , Na ' al acknowledged that this information was drawn from a single unreliable source , the 28 BBY memoir of Ros Lai , an alleged former Nightsister . Personality and traits . Voren Na ' al was an unimposing youth when he first volunteered for the Alliance , though his years recording the exploits of the heroes of the galaxy , and his adventures in documenting them , had made him a wiser and more experienced man late in life . Na ' al kept a personal journal in which he kept private notes about the subjects whom he interviewed in the course of his research . During both phases of his life , however , he held great enthusiasm for the personalities he reported on ; this occasionally led to a nearly unprofessional zeal in his writings , a trait which he was self - conscious of and for which he sometimes felt the need to apologize . His critics also found his writing to be overly focused on individual personalities . Nonetheless , his work was quoted by author Dr . Milanda Vorgan in her seminal work " " . Later in life , Na ' al settled into his role as a family man , and would turn down offers to explore abroad ; it took a personal and persuasive request by Mon Mothma to convince him to go to the Kathol sector . His advancing age , and concern for the request of his wife that he not go alone , convinced him to take Pollo Tipn along as help . Na ' al stood 1 . 8 meters tall . He was fair complected , with blond hair and brown eyes . Behind the scenes . Voren Na ' al originated as the in - universe " author " of several " " sourcebooks published by West End Games , beginning with " " in 1989 . He was created to provide an in - universe perspective on the subjects WEG covered in its works , and to leave room for uncertainty in these accounts , providing a gamemaster with a handy justification to ignore some facts in a sourcebook for his own campaign . After WEG ' s bankruptcy , Na ' al saw relatively little use . Pablo Hidalgo ' s 2001 article " The Starhoppers of Aduba - 3 , " from " Star Wars Gamer 4 " , used Na ' al to introduce uncertainty to its retelling of the Marvel Comics storyline begun in " " ; by having Na ' al express disbelief at the accounts he was hearing , it also implied that the outlandish camp of the original story was the actual truth . He re - appeared as author of the introduction to " The New Essential Chronology " in 2005 ; author Daniel Wallace noted that " he seemed like the kind of guy who would get involved in a project like this . " He was subsequently mentioned in several articles for , as well as in " " and " The Essential Guide to Warfare " . In 2012 , the " Rogues Gallery " feature in " Star Wars Insider 133 " identified the two extras who bear the medals to General Dodonna as being Na ' al and Hextrophon , retroactively establishing that film as their first appearance . The actor playing Na ' al was Derek Lyons , who also portrayed one of the Rebel Honor Guard members depicted earlier in the same scene . The first edition of " Galaxy Guide 1 : A New Hope " ends with Na ' al formulating the beginning to a story he would tell based on his research . This beginning is the opening crawl for . The opening crawl is excised from the end of . In 1996 , Na ' al would break the fourth wall more directly , dispensing roleplaying advice about the galaxy , gamemaster characters , aliens , creatures , and planets directly to the players in " " .