Xamus/Sumax

Xamus/Sumax was a two-headed, four-armed sentient who was imprisoned on M'Bardi during the Clone Wars. He was possessed of two distinct personalities, one for each of his heads: one head was a peaceful, gentle being, and the other violent and angry. Though they were not unaccustomed to working together, the heads—each of whom controlled one pair of their body's arms—had vastly different attitudes and views on life. Eventually, Xamus/Sumax ended up in M'Bardi Prison, on the water planet M'Bardi in the Outer Rim.
During the Clone Wars, the Separatist commander Durge started a mass brawl and riot in the prison, which caused damage to the building and allowed water to enter it. Xamus/Sumax was involved in the rioting, though he soon came up against a pair of Jedi Masters, Kit Fisto and Plo Koon, dispatched to M'Bardi to put a stop to the riot. After being incapacitated by Fisto, both of the heads worked together to stop Durge from killing the Jedi, in the interest of their own preservation. Fisto and Koon allowed Xamus/Sumax to follow them onto the higher level of the prison, and after another clash with Durge, Fisto allowed him to tag along with the Jedi and watch their back, for which Xamus/Sumax would be rewarded with freedom.
==Biography==
===Imprisonment on M'Bardi===
Xamus/Sumax was a member of a six-eyed, two-headed, four-armed species with two distinct personalities, both male; one was peaceful and gentle, the other violent and angry. Each personality was embodied by one of the heads, which each controlled two of Xamus/Sumax's four arms—the peaceful head controlled the lower pair of arms, while the other head controlled the upper, more muscular pair. Each of his heads had three eyes situated in a triangular position, with one above the other two. At some point in his life, the upper left arm was severed and replaced by a simple cybernetic arm, similar in appearance to Xamus/Sumax's biological arms, with three large fingers. The aggressive head's left eye was badly scarred, while he also was missing a number of his teeth. The two shared the same vital organs, so one could not die without taking the other with him to the grave.
The aggressive head often got the other head in trouble, committing illegal acts that the peaceful personality could not prevent. Eventually, Xamus/Sumax was sent to M'Bardi Prison on the planet M'Bardi in the Outer Rim Territories. Built underwater on a coral-covered seabed, it was full of ruffians and criminals of various backgrounds and species, and although there was not much in the way of actual security, escaping the prison was not an easy task, as it was surrounded by vast seas. Both of Xamus/Sumax's personalities longed to escape.
===Encounter with the Jedi===
At some point during the Clone Wars, the bounty hunter Durge, working on behalf of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, incited a large scale riot at M'Bardi prison. Durge hoped to lure members of the Jedi Order to the riot and ambush them. Before long, the riot had gripped the entire prison; parts of it went up in flames, hundreds of prisoners clashed with each other, and cracks in the walls began to appear throughout the building, allowing water into it, until most floors were covered with a layer of water that reached most beings' feet. Xamus/Sumax was involved in the rioting, finding two blaster pistols, which the aggressive head held in each of his hands, but before long, the Jedi arrived, as Durge had anticipated.
Jedi Masters Kit Fisto and Plo Koon were able to disperse the rioting near the prison's entrance, though their appearance prompted the rioters to work together and gang up on them. Meanwhile, Xamus/Sumax, led by his violent personality, killed or incapacitated a slew of his fellow prisoners, until he was left alone in a clearing which contained a shallow layer of water. Eventually, having disposed of all the prisoners in their path, the two Jedi Masters came upon Xamus/Sumax in the clearing. One of the Jedi ordered him to drop his weapon; the peaceful personality implored the other head to do as told, but the other head refused. He fired at Plo Koon, twice, but each time the Jedi Master blocked the blaster bolts with his lightsaber, before slashing the two weapons from Xamus/Sumax's hands. Koon then Force pushed him backwards and prepared to kill Xamus/Sumax, but his comrade intervened, knowing that if Koon killed his attacker the peaceful head would also perish.
===Unexpected allies===
Instead, Fisto knocked Xamus/Sumax unconscious. He didn't stay down for long, though, and awoke to discover that the two Jedi were battling with the heavily-armed Durge. The bounty hunter's natural Gen'Dai regenerative abilities made him an almost invincible opponent, so both the aggressive and the peaceful personalities of Xamus/Sumax figured that if they helped the Jedi, they could be granted amnesty and escape M'Bardi; Durge was more likely to let them all drown, as the damage he had caused to the underwater structure with his missiles was letting water in at a very fast rate. Xamus/Sumax, his two halves working together, found a blaster rifle, and secured a vantage point from which he could fire upon Durge, who was pinning the Jedi to either wall on each side of him. Xamus/Sumax's shot took Durge by surprise, and he lost his grip on the Jedi, falling over. In the process, he inadvertently fired two missiles at the ceiling, making it fall in, gallons of water with it.
With Durge seemingly defeated, Xamus/Sumax informed Fisto and Koon that he merely wanted to escape M'Bardi prison alive. The Jedi realized that the hole in the ceiling Durge had unwittingly created could be used for them to reach the upper levels; they still had three hundred prisoners to recapture. The Jedi used grappling spikes to ascend to the upper level, helping Xamus/Sumax up with them. As the two-headed convict reached it, however, Durge used his mutable natural appendages to grab hold of his two heads, attempting to pull Xamus/Sumax back down. The quick-thinking Kit Fisto was able to sever the appendages, rescuing Xamus/Sumax. They then used the Force to push a boulder atop the hole, trapping Durge below. With their enemy defeated, at least temporarily, Koon and Fisto agreed to allow Xamus/Sumax to travel around the prison with them to watch their backs. Fisto suggested Xamus/Sumax then be allowed leave the prison for his efforts.
==Personality and traits==
Xamus/Sumax's right head had cropped, black hair, and a gentle, peaceful personality. He did not partake in violence, seeking to avoid confrontation, and his two arms were far thinner than the two controlled by the left head. When the Jedi at M'Bardi ordered Xamus/Sumax to drop his weapons, the right head requested that his peer do as they told, and he tried to surrender to the Jedi. However, he was not above taking up arms when his life depended on it, and he worked in conjunction with his other head to fire a blaster rifle at Durge. Because of the actions of his other personality, the right head was sometimes thought to be have a similar disposition; upon seeing Xamus/Sumax in the prison, Plo Koon declared him a monster, and would have killed the gentle personality had Koon's fellow Jedi not intervened.
The left head was the antithesis of the right. Confrontational and argumentative, he had a scarred, pockmarked face, with sleek, long hair. He was confident in his own strength, opting to take on two senior and powerful Jedi Masters at M'Bardi prison, but he later showed another side by saving the Jedi along with his other half and subsequently turning on his fellow inmates, even if only to save his own skin. His actions caused Plo Koon to question his black-and-white view on life, which saw everyone as either a villain or a hero; the left head showed that one could be both.
==Behind the scenes==
The character of Xamus/Sumax was created by Haden Blackman for Means and Ends, a short comic collected in Clone Wars Adventures: Volume 6 in 2006. He was illustrated by Rick Lacy and Dan Jackson, but appeared without a name in the comic. The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, published in 2008, gave him a short entry in its third volume, and provided his name.
==Appearances==
* 
==Sources==
*The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia 
==Notes and references==
Category:Criminals
Category:Individuals of unidentified species
Category:Individuals with he/him pronouns
Category:Males