Raynar Thul

Raynar Thul was a Human male who was an antagonist, a friend of the Solo twins, the son of former Alderaan nobles Bornan and Aryn Dro Thul, and the heir of their shipping enterprise, Bornaryn Trading. Following the Mission to Myrkr during the Yuuzhan Vong War, Raynar was taken in by the Killiks. A broken man, he became UnuThul, leader of the Colony. In 35 ABY, the Colony, under the influence of the Dark Nest, attacked the Chiss Ascendancy, starting the Swarm War. A year later, UnuThul was defeated by Luke Skywalker, ending the Swarm War. Thul was taken into Galactic Alliance custody.
Seven years and numerous surgeries later, he returned to the Jedi Order as an active Jedi Knight and helped in defending the Temple against the Mandalorians mercenaries of Galactic Alliance Chief of State Natasi Daala. Thul later returned to the Killiks, prepared to become a Joiner if necessary, on a mission to learn extremely valuable secrets about the identity of the dark side entity Abeloth. Having fulfilled his mission, Raynar let himself be absorbed by the hive mind of the Thuruht nest, becoming ThurThul, however, after the defeat of the Lost Tribe of Sith and Abeloth, a group of Jedi sent by Luke Skywalker brought him back among his Jedi brothers.
==Biography==
===Childhood===
Raynar was born on the flagship of Bornaryn Trading, the Tradewyn. His family's home planet of Alderaan was destroyed approximately 10 years before his birth, and his parents and uncle kept the spirit of their homeworld alive by participating in family customs such as the Ceremony of Waters.
Spoiled and boastful, Raynar took after his uncle Tyko Thul in personality. He was raised with the best of everything money can buy, but lacked physical affection from his family.
===Jedi training===
At some point, Raynar was discovered to be Force-sensitive and sent to Luke Skywalker's Jedi Praxeum on Yavin 4 to train his ability in the Force. Raynar was not a popular student at the academy, and was often found annoying fellow students by either interrupting Luke Skywalker's lessons with a lot of questions, or claiming to be superior in the Force to everyone else. The robes he wore were practically garish with bright, clashing colors. Skywalker would often understandingly answer at least some of the questions that were honestly good ones, but Raynar recognized that when Skywalker gave him a pointed look, it was time to put his hand down.
During the Shadow Academy attack, Raynar's boasts about how good he was with the Force were proven wrong, as he was trounced by Dark Jedi who would have killed him had Zekk not thrown him into the mud and generally embarrassed him to save his life. From then on, he vowed to work harder on his mastery of the Force to back up his boasts. Following the battle, Raynar assisted in tending to the injured. Among those he attended was his old enemy Tenel Ka, who had recently been injured during a fight with the Nightsister Tamith Kai. As a result, he was befriended by Tenel Ka, the Solo twins Jacen and Jaina, and the Wookiee Lowbacca, all of whom had been his enemies previously.
Shortly after the attack by the Shadow Academy, Han Solo told Raynar that Bornan Thul had gone missing. After offering to form a search party, Raynar was told to stay at the academy. As weeks went by without any word from Bornan, Aryn Dro Thul recalled her son to the flagship Tradewyn for his security and her peace of mind. After a traitor was discovered and dispatched, Raynar stayed aboard the ship for a few more weeks. Missing his new friends Jacen, Jaina, Tenel Ka, and Lowbacca, he got a ride back to Yavin 4 with the supplier, old Peckhum.
After hearing about the Human-hating Diversity Alliance and its leader, Nolaa Tarkona, from former Diversity Alliance member Lusa, Raynar understood why his father disappeared on the way to meet Tarkona. Bornan Thul had acquired a navicomputer with coordinates to a plague warehouse that he was supposed to have given Tarkona, but found out what she planned to do with it and hid. Unfortunately, Bornan Thul had visited the warehouse, and Boba Fett (actually Ailyn Vel in disguise) had hacked into his navigation logs, found the coordinates, and turned them over to Tarkona.
After being reunited with his father, Raynar, along with Zekk and the Jedi trainees, helped his father wire the warehouse with explosives. Unfortunately, The Diversity Alliance showed up, and Bornan Thul was exposed to a Human-killing virus in the ensuing confrontation. Raynar had to watch his father die hours after being reunited with him.
After a mourning period, Raynar went back to Yavin 4 and built his lightsaber. He was also delighted to learn that Lusa, to whom he had become close, was now a full-time student at the Academy.
===The Yuuzhan Vong invasion===
During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Raynar's friend Lusa was killed by the voxyn on Chiron, leaving him devastated. Raynar joined in an all Jedi squadron in an ambush at Froz with the nickname Merchantman. He believed along with Alema Rar that destroying the voxyn and defeating the Yuuzhan Vong would justify any action they undertook, this caused great controversy within the group, especially Jacen and Zekk who believed that such action could only lead to the dark side.
Raynar was chosen as a member of the Myrkr strike team mission to kill the voxyn queen, mainly to avenge the death of Lusa. During the Mission to Myrkr, he grew close to Eryl Besa, but any relationship was cut short when she was killed. He was wounded when he fought a voxyn, and he managed to kill it, but its tail struck him and he was knocked unconscious by the tail's neural shock. Raynar was put on the Tachyon Flier, until he recovered. The Dark Jedi Welk and Lomi Plo captured him and flew off. The vessel was damaged just before it managed to jump, and the team felt a surge through the Force that they believed was Raynar's death.
===Kidnapped, rescued and absorbed (27 ABY)===
During the Mission to Myrkr of the Yuuzhan Vong War in 27 ABY, Jedi Apprentice Raynar Thul was part of the Myrkr strike team which infiltrated the worldship Baanu Rass in Myrkr's orbit in order to destroy the voxyn queen within. Injured, Raynar was moved into the YV-888 freighter discovered by the strike team in the worldship hangar, a craft which the team planned to commandeer after completing the mission.
However, Nightsister Lomi Plo and Dark Jedi Welk, two prisoners rescued by the team during the mission, hijacked the Tachyon Flier by stunning Lowbacca. The two of them betrayed the strike team and took off, taking Raynar with them. The Flier was under enemy fire during Myrkr outbound, and after a faint disturbance in the Force the three passengers were presumed lost.
In truth, the Flier jumped to the Unknown Regions and crash-landed on the planet Yoggoy, a Killik nest. The already injured Raynar caught fire, but he performed a noble Jedi act by dragging Plo and Welk out of the wreckage. Killiks of the Yoggoy hive arrived at the crash site and waited for Raynar to die, in order to give his corpse to Killik larvae. As the Joining process began, Raynar's personality began to affect and take over the Yoggoy hive mind. Thus the Yoggoy took Raynar and spent a long time healing the young Jedi. The survived Raynar Thul was absorbed into the Yoggoy hive mind and emerged as a Joiner of the Yoggoy hive.
===UnuThul (27 to 35 ABY)===
Raynar's Force-sensitivity affected the Yoggoy, and his values became their values, especially the value of individual life. The reborn Thul began changing the Yoggoy nest to better help the Killiks, making the Yoggoy much stronger than before. Thus a new nest named Unu was created, and Thul became the Prime Unu, UnuThul, leader of the Unu lead hive and spokesperson of the Colony—a post some considered as a Jedi Lord years later. In time, the Colony spread about local space, to provide resources for itself and share the "gift" of Thul among the Kind.
The process was not an easy one. While Killiks were peaceful, like most hive based species, they had no value on individual life. At least one rival nest attacked the lead hive, but the hive survived, either defeating or absorbing the attacking nest.
Then, the cyclical food shortages, which had never been a problem to the Killiks before, required them to begin trading with other planets and races. However, the Colony also began absorbing more non-Killiks into their hive mind.
One typical example was the Chiss Ascendancy. Before Raynar Thul crash-landed on Yoggoy and became UnuThul, several Chiss Ruling Families had already hired entire Killik nests for industrial works. Despite the Chiss precautions, two entire ruling families became Joiners, and three had become critically dependent on insect labor. An internal dispute in the Ascendancy took place and was resolved by 28 ABY.
===The Dark Nest Crisis (35 to 36 ABY)===
====The Chiss-Colony border dispute====
Needless to say, the Chiss Ascendancy considered the Colony a great threat. Under the leadership of the Unu lead hive and its leader UnuThul, the Colony continued to expand. By 35 ABY there were at least three hundred and seventy-five nests, whose border closely approached Ascendancy space. Chiss military responded with battle readiness and high alert, igniting several engagements. As the intelligence and knowledge within the "defected" Chiss was accessible by the hive minds, the Colony received certain advantages. Militarily threatened and starving to death, UnuThul required help to tip the balance in order to defeat the bullying Chiss, helping the weak and poor… or so he thought.
====A call for help====
The Force-sensitivity of UnuThul not only united the nests, but allowed UnuThul to draw on the Force energy of every single nest member and Joiner. Now stunningly powerful in the Force, UnuThul issued a call for help through the Force to the Myrkr strike team survivors. Every survivor received the call, with Jaina Solo, Tesar Sebatyne, Lowbacca, Zekk, Tahiri Veila, Tekli and Alema Rar abandoning their Jedi duties to rush to Yoggoy. After meeting "Raynar" and spending time in the hive, most of the Jedi became Joiners or Partial Joiners with the Taat nest, and they were deployed by UnuThul to the planet Qoribu, helping the Taat to engage incoming Chiss ships.
Enraged that the Jedi of the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances—Aristocra Mitt'swe'kleoni's words—took aggressive actions in a border dispute of the Chiss, Mitt'swe'kleoni went to Coruscant and demanded Chief of State Cal Omas's explanation. Honestly unaware of both the missing Jedi and the border dispute, Omas led the Chiss to the New Jedi Temple. Mitt'swe'kleoni was apparently convinced that the missing Jedi had gone rogue, while Cal Omas demanded that Jedi Master Luke Skywalker personally bring the Jedi back and stop the killing.
At the same time, Jacen Solo, after his five years solitude in his quest to learn a broader view of the Force, received the Force-call and went to Yoggoy. There Jacen visited the crash site before meeting UnuThul and used the newly learned Flow-walking technique to witness Raynar dragging Plo and Welk out of the wreckage in the past. After a short while, he also left a Force vision message to his mother Leia Organa Solo, who would visit the crash site in the future. At Hapes, Queen Mother Tenel Ka Chume Ta' Djo received the call but did not leave the Consortium due to her duty to her people.
====Confrontations with the Masters====
Having received the news from Kyp Durron, Leia and Han Solo went to the Unknown Regions in the Millennium Falcon, while Luke, Mara Jade Skywalker and Saba Sebatyne arrived at the Lizil nest in the Jade Shadow, which was greeted by five hundred dartships. The Skywalker-Solo family joined forces and investigated, but the Joiners under the control of the Lizil hive mind tried to undermine their efforts. With the help of Jae Juun and Tarfang, the Jedi learned the basic idea of Joiners and traveled to Yoggoy.
The Falcon and Jae's XR808g landed on Yoggoy while the Shadow provided air cover. Escorted by a large number of insect soldiers, UnuThul, now an imposing, melt-faced man with no ears or hair, a bulge for a nose and a pair of blue eyes, with a deep, gravelly rasp voice, greeted the Solos. His brows had fused into a single knobby ridge, and his visible skin was full of burn scars. A head higher than Han Solo, he wore purple trousers with a scarlet cape over a gold chitin breastplate. Despite such an appearance, Leia sensed UnuThul's presence familiar, and for a moment Leia almost thought UnuThul was her lost son Anakin Solo. In a masterful display of his power, UnuThul used the Force to telepathically probe Leia and nearly made her collapse; then he healed a Yoggoy guide injured by Tarfang, broke the turrets of the Falcon, crippled the Solos' BD-8 droid, and stunned Cakhmaim and Meewalh, Leia's Noghri bodyguards. After stating the Falcon was better with a white hull instead of the black, Leia identified the Prime Unu as the presumed lost Raynar Thul.
In the Prime Chamber, UnuThul used "we" to address himself, stating Raynar Thul no longer existed and "we" were now UnuThul. Luke insisted that he sensed Raynar's presence in UnuThul, and guessed Raynar might be in hiding. UnuThul claimed Raynar Thul was now a ghost, vanished with the Crash, and UnuThul was the man. Raynar then guided the Jedi to read the Chronicle on the wall, explaining the transformation of Raynar Thul to UnuThul, and the rise of the Unu nest, UnuThul explained the Unu nest as "the nest of the nests".
UnuThul received his first test as Mara asked about the fate of Lomi Plo and Welk. UnuThul appeared to be confused, not remembering about his own abduction by the pair. Luke sensed the Raynar presence rose repeatedly to the surface but was swallowed by the presence of the hive mind. UnuThul claimed that the Crash was remembered, but not the Dark Jedi, and concluded that they must be dead. When Luke tried to probe UnuThul again, the hive mind powerfully pushed Luke out and declared that the Crash, the flames, pain, smoke, fear, loneliness and despair were the only things "we" remembered.
When Han asked about Jaina and the rest of the missing Jedi, UnuThul assured their welfare and claimed that the Unu hive mind did not know how Raynar Thul's friends thought of the new UnuThul. UnuThul stated that the Colony needed the missing Jedi to prevent a war with the Chiss. UnuThul then claimed innocence in the conflict and accused the Chiss for poisoning the Colony's food worlds. UnuThul claimed that the Chiss could come to the Colony and take what they needed, provided that the Colony could do the same in Chiss space.
When Mara demanded the location of the missing Jedi, UnuThul telepathically assaulted Luke Skywalker with such a power that required the combined strength of Luke, Mara, Saba, and Leia to stop him.
UnuThul refused to surrender the planet Qoribu after the showdown, stating that anyone could leave whenever they wanted, and decided to assign a Yoggoy guide to escort the Jedi Masters back to Lizil. Luke refused and insisted on performing private investigation, UnuThul stated they were welcomed to stay on Yoggoy for as long as they wished, but the Colony would not allow the missing Jedi to be visited. UnuThul then debated with the Masters about the political standing of the New Jedi Order and their view of the Force. The interview ended with UnuThul stating that the Colony understood the Jedi Masters all too well, due to the collective memory and experience of the Joiners.
The Jedi soon realized that such a collective mind allowed UnuThul to spy on them almost anytime and anywhere on Yoggoy. They visited the crash site, and Leia received Jacen's message about Qoribu which was in the Gyuel system. Insects dark blue in color then attempted to assassinate the Jedi Masters at the crash site, which the Jedi barely escaped with Nanna killing several blue insects at the process. However, the Yoggoy guide accompanying the Jedi denied ever seeing any blue insects before its death.
UnuThul met the Jedi back at the hangar. When he asked about whether the Jedi was hurt, Han accused UnuThul for the attempted assassination. UnuThul claimed that the hive mind would know if any nest attacked the Jedi, and the mind would realize if any of its members were killed. Han then threatened UnuThul, even mentioning about a date with Raynar Thul's mother a long time ago, which seemed to enrage the Prime Unu. UnuThul insisted the Yoggoy guide was the only dead found in the area, and the blue insects were probably shadows due to thick dust and falling rubble. Luke proposed that it was another party who attempted to assassinate the Jedi, but UnuThul insisted that even if someone else attacked the Jedi, the hive mind would also be aware.
Leia then took UnuThul into the Falcon and showed him the artwork Killik Twilight, which UnuThul claimed showed the Lost Nest Oroboro, and revealing that the Colony was the nest of the supposed extinct Killiks. However Leia used the Killik ruins on Alderaan to prove that the tower falling at the crash site was an attack instead of a natural collapse. Denied, UnuThul provided an apology and tried to explain the Celestials to Han, claiming the Killiks built the Centerpoint Station, which was called Qolaraloq by them.
====The discovery of the Dark Nest====
While the Jedi Masters were busy searching for Qoribu, the missing Jedi battled against Chiss forces over Qoribu's orbit, and Lowbacca went EV. When the Masters reached Qoribu, the Shadow was attacked by mysterious dartships, which was fooled by Luke Skywalker's illusions. After an intense interview, the Masters-on-site requested the Jedi to return to Coruscant. The Jedi agreed under the conditions that Lowbacca would be rescued and a Master would stay on Qoribu to monitor the conflict.
However, the rescue mission was foiled by Commander Jagged Fel of the Chiss, who intended to ambush the rogue Jedi. Refusing to lead his friends into danger, Lowbacca foiled the ambush and was captured by Jagged. On Qoribu, Saba Sebatyne was grievously wounded in a duel against the supposed dead Welk. While on the Shadow, Ben Skywalker secretly brought a Killik from the Gorog nest back home; Jacen, Tahiri, Tesar, Tekli traveled back to Alliance space with the Masters. Alema agreed to leave with the Solo couple and the injured Saba, surprising Jaina and Zekk, who refused to leave.
In the following days, Master Healer Cilghal tried to solve the Joining mystery, while Alema sabotaged the Falcon, was outmatched by Leia in a lightsaber duel and captured by Han. Jacen traveled to Hapes and convinced Tenel Ka to send a fleet for the Colony's defense. Tesar fled to inform Raynar's family about his reappearance. On Ossus, Mara fought against Ben's Gorog "friend" and captured the insect. After a morally debatable experiment, Cilghal concluded that Alema was Joined with the Dark Nest Gorog due to her close relationship with the dark side; and the Dark Nest was manipulating the Colony behind the scenes, fooling UnuThul, the Joiners and all the nests.
At the same time, Cal Omas demanded the Jedi recall all the rogue Jedi and the Hapan fleet, otherwise the Alliance would stop financing the Order. Open debate broke out in the Masters' Council. Leia proposed moving the nests on Qoribu to a new system the Solos discovered on the condition that Borao would be given to the Ithorians. The Jedi mounted an assault against the Dark Nest by allowing Alema to escape Ossus with Gorog, leading the Jedi to Kr.
====The Battles of Qoribu and Kr====
UnuThul moved his flagship and the Colony main fleet, the Great Swarm, to Qoribu for the upcoming battle. UnuThul asked, then ordered Jaina and Zekk to leave Qoribu. The pair was able to resist UnuThul's power and discovered that the Colony intended to ambush the Chiss and wait for Hapan reinforcement. Jaina accused UnuThul controlling Jacen to bring the reinforcements, while UnuThul revealed that even the combined Force power of the Colony was not strong enough to control Jacen. Jaina tried to convince UnuThul to make peace with the Chiss, which would be the wish of Raynar, but UnuThul countered that Raynar was gone. Jaina then faked her submission, and when neither the mind of Unu nor the Taat's paid her attention, she reached out and warned Jagged.
The Battle of Kr began as the Skywalker couple infiltrated the Dark Nest and were shot down and ambushed. In high orbit, the Battle of Qoribu broke out as neither Chiss nor Hapans would trust the claim of the Solos; each feared that the Solos were a ploy of the opposite party. A complex battle broke out between the Chiss, Hapans, Colony, and Jedi. Despite all the crossfire, the Falcon landed on Kr and stormed the Dark Nest to reinforce the Skywalkers.
Enraged that Jaina warned Jagged about the ambush and foiled the Colony's plan, UnuThul planted a command with all his power in Jaina and Zekk: rescue Lowbacca and leave. When the pair launched in their StealthXs, they discovered the presence of Jedi Masters in the system, and thought UnuThul deliberately hid the truth from them. Sensing the doubt, UnuThul pressed the will of rescue-and-leave on them harder.
On Kr, Alema and Dark Nest warriors ambushed the combined force of Skywalkers, Solos, Saba Sebatyne, Kyp Durron, Kyle Katarn, Octa Ramis, and YVH 5-S "Bugcruncher" war droids. Due to the anger of the Unu hive mind, the distance with the Taat hive members, and UnuThul being too busy coordinating the battle to touch the Force Meld of the Myrkr strike team survivors, Jaina and Zekk had control of their mind for the moment. The pair concluded that the Chiss were employing the Bothan fade tactic against the Colony. Fearing that the death of UnuThul would let Lomi Plo or Welk seize the post of Prime Unu, the pair urged UnuThul to touch the meld. When the Unu hive mind pushed their call away, Leia touched Jaina, relaying images of the Battle of Kr to her daughter.
The pair was finally convinced that the dark blue Killiks existed and were behind the multiple attacks on the Jedi. Jaina and Zekk ceased their rescue mission and headed to the Colony fleet, but Unu's Will urged them to turn away. Difficult to fight against the Will, the pair ordered their astromech droids, who could not be touched by the Killiks' Will, to fly toward the Colony fleet. UnuThul personally pushed the Will aside and talked to the pair, but he refused to believe the Bothan fade claim, as Chiss tactics were different from those of the rest of the galaxy.
Yet when the pair journeyed deep into the Chiss fleet to rescue Lowbacca, the Great Swarm stayed around Qoribu's south pole, with the Hapans taking up supporting position behind the dartships, effectively foiling the Bothan fade. Realizing that the plan had failed, the Chiss altered tactics and built up a three-layer defensive wall. Meanwhile, having lost track of the pair of StealthXs, the Chiss dreadnaught holding Lowbacca withdrew and jumped to Chiss space.
On Kr, the battle intensified as Luke and Mara dueled with Alema, Welk and the Gorog assassin. The fighting darkened as the Skywalkers used Force choke and Force lightning against their enemies. A mysterious attacker drew away the power cells of the Jedi lightsabers and blasters, and slowed down the motion of Luke. Although convinced that it was Lomi Plo, the Jedi could not find her. The battle ended with Mara defeating Gorog and Luke killing Welk, but the injured Alema fled.
====The Qoribu truce====
UnuThul moved his flagship, an old Lancer-class frigate, to Kr and stopped Jae from hijacking the Falcon. His power absorbed Jaina and Zekk, who came to rescue the Jedi, and demanded the killers of the Killiks.
In a captive chamber of the Gorog Dark Nest, UnuThul used the Force to pressure the Solos. Han was able to resist without effort, but Leia's touch with the meld was exposed. Leia then showed UnuThul the captive chamber, where Gorog fed on Chiss captives and influenced the Colony to build more nests on Qoribu.
The Will of the Unu nest battled against UnuThul's–or Raynar Thul's–will. Leia tried to convince UnuThul that the Dark Nest used the Force to influence Unu and the other nests, much like UnuThul used the Force on Tesar, Tekli and Tahiri, commanding them to report his fate to the Thul family and argue against the Council. UnuThul refused to yield until Saba showed him the body of Welk.
Raynar Thul's memory and presence finally broke free. He claimed that when the Flier crashed on Yoggoy, he saw Jacen and received his help through the Force. UnuThul was able to remember that he had saved Lomi Plo, and had sensed her fear of Anakin Solo, Luke Skywalker, and the Yuuzhan Vong, along with her desire to hide from everyone.
The Solos convinced UnuThul about Cilghal's theory that the Yoggoy had swallowed Raynar Thul's desire to care for individual life, creating Unu, while Yoggoy also swallowed Lomi Plo's and Welk's to hide and create Gorog. UnuThul held himself responsible for all of the killing, because Raynar Thul had saved Lomi Plo and Welk. Han convinced him otherwise, but UnuThul started blaming everything on the Chiss, proposing that the Chiss had brain-slaved the Gorog or were cloning Killiks.
Going insane, UnuThul pressured Leia and a Chiss captive, demanding the nonexistent truth of Chiss treachery, and again refused to acknowledge saving Plo and Welk. The Solos and Saba instead convinced UnuThul that absorbing too many Chiss into the Colony would result in the creation of Dark Nests, because Chiss were great fighters and desired secrecy. UnuThul finally refused to absorb anymore Chiss minds, and stated the Colony would never murder Chiss prisoners.
Finally, Leia convinced UnuThul to move the Qoribu nests onto ships in the Hapan fleet and settle into a subsector on the edge of Colony territory. Thus the Qoribu Truce was signed, with the Chiss Ascendancy providing a border guarantee and a promise of nonaggression. Jagged released Lowbacca, and UnuThul told Han that Jaina was no longer welcome within the nests because she was stubborn, tricky, and cared about nothing but preventing a war.
====The attack of Fizz====
One year later, an environmental defense system nicknamed "the Fizz" started to attack the Killiks that had settled on the planet. The planet's defenses, advanced nano-technology, broke down everything that was harming the ecology of the planet.
UnuThul was furious and imprisoned Han and Luke under the influence of the Dark Nest. He sent all of the Killiks back to the Chiss Frontier. On their way, they were attacked by the Galactic Alliance fleet. Raynar commandeered one of the shuttles and took off with most of the Killiks. Many considered Raynar an enemy after that, but some still thought of him as the Jedi he once was.
===The Swarm War===
In 36 ABY, at the height of the Swarm War, he and Luke Skywalker battled–Thul wielding a golden lightsaber–and during their duel, Skywalker was forced to cut off part of his arm. Skywalker knocked some sense into Thul and demanded that he leave the Killiks. After the defeat of Lomi Plo, Thul, who was knocked unconscious by Luke and brought back to the Jedi headquarters, was given a special brain hood to wear so that if he tried to communicate with the Killiks, he would be zapped. Thul was then put in the custody of the Jedi Order, where he was set to undergo treatment, both physical and mental until he was able to reintegrate into the Order.
===Recovery and return===
In 43 ABY, while still undergoing rehabilitation under Jedi watch in the Asylum Block of the Jedi Temple detention center, Thul had accepted a prosthetic arm and was considering the use of cosmetic surgery to restore his appearance. When Leia Organa Solo and her husband journeyed to the Detention Center to observe the maddened Jedi Seff Hellin and Natua Wan, Thul's door was left open. Permitted to leave whenever he desired, the healers deemed him ready to go out as soon as he realized that he was healed. After being encouraged by the Solos to leave his cell, Raynar agreed to move into new quarters, and began packing. He afterward helped the Solos to transfer the delusional Jedi patients to the spaceport to be evacuated, showing great skill in convincing the escaped Bazel Warv to come with them.
Thul was at the Jedi Temple when Mandalorian warriors hired by the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances Chief of State Natasi Daala raided the temple. He helped Jedi Knights Jaina Solo, Tyria Sarkin Tainer, and apprentice Bandy Geffer subdue five Mandalorian warriors.
Thul later developed a friendship with Chief of Staff Wynn Dorvan who had lunch with him every day on the steps of the Jedi Temple. When the Temple came under siege and Kani Asari was murdered at the hands of the Mandalorians, Dorvan saved Thul's life when he went to have lunch on the steps. This convinced Dorvan to remove Asari's body from the steps, overruling the Mandalorians' decree that she would stay there as a reminder to the Jedi of the Mandalorian terms.
Later, Thul was one of the dozens of Jedi pilots preparing to launch with the StealthX wing to rescue Luke and Ben Skywalker from the Sith when Kenth Hamner and Saba Sebatyne dueled in the hangar. Prior to the duel, Hamner tried to sneak into the hangar undetected but believed Thul may have felt Hamner's Force presence when the young Jedi turned his head in Hamner's direction and smirked. It was noted by Hamner that Thul was not one of the squadron leaders.
====Fighting Abeloth====
Raynar participated in the StealthX strike against the Sith above Nam Chorios. After Luke Skywalker announced that the Jedi would be disbanding from the Galactic Alliance and leaving Coruscant altogether, Thul was one of the many Jedi who joined him. He was among the team led by Skywalker as they hunted the dark side entity known as Abeloth throughout the galaxy. When the hunt for Abeloth led to the Sith planet of Upekzar, Thul was one of the many Jedi to escape the Force-explosion that followed the Sith Tola Annax's death.
Following the incident on Upekzar, Thul was sent to a planet in the Reo system within the Maraqoo sector alongside fellow Jedi Knights Lowbacca and Tekli, as well as the protocol droid C-3PO. There, they met with the Killik queen of the Thuruht nest in order to ask how they stopped Abeloth thousands of years earlier. When the Thuruht began performing their duties in haste, C-3PO translated for the Jedi Knights that the Thuruht were doing this because, according to the queen, the end of times had come. The Jedi stayed with the Thuruht for a few more weeks but could not get much more information until Thul decided he would join the nest in order to learn everything the Thuruht knew about Abeloth. Thuruht showed them the nests history as they remembered it, which is in fact the story of the Ones. Since the Thuruht had been their servants they'd witnessed how Abeloth had become what she was.
When the Thuruht finished telling the story, Thul had become a joiner again and Lowbacca and Tekli left Thul to stay behind. Later, after the Jedi defeated Abeloth, Grand Master Skywalker ordered Master Sebatyne to dispatch a team to retrieve Thul so his presence among the Killik did not antagonize the Chiss.
==Behind the scenes==
When Raynar was first introduced in Young Jedi Knights: Heirs of the Force, he was not given a last name and was just described as a spoiled young man who wore garish robes of varying colors. He was given his last name in the Diversity Alliance arc of the Young Jedi Knights series, which also fleshed out his backstory and identified him as the son of Bornan Thul and Aryn Dro from A. C. Crispin's The Han Solo Trilogy.
While at the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4, Raynar used a pewter-bladed lightsaber. He presumably used this weapon for most of his time as a Jedi, even during the Yuuzhan Vong war. As UnuThul, he wielded a gold-bladed lightsaber, which was eventually confiscated by Luke Skywalker after a duel, though Luke offered to return the weapon someday. By 43 ABY Raynar again wielded his lightsaber.
==Appearances==
==Sources==
*
*Star Wars Encyclopedia
*
*The New Jedi Order Sourcebook
*Power of the Jedi Sourcebook
*The New Essential Chronology
*The New Essential Guide to Alien Species
*The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
*
*The Unknown Regions
*
*The Essential Reader's Companion
==Notes and references==
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