Cham Syndulla

> "During the Clone War, you didn't just fight for a village, you rallied everyone to liberate the entire planet. You inspired me. The Rebellion is no different."
> — Hera Syndulla, to Cham Syndulla
>
>

**Cham Syndulla** was a Twi'lek male who dedicated his life as a resistance fighter and revolutionary leader throughout the rise of the Galactic Empire. Originally a political revolutionary opposed to the corruption of Ryloth's senator, Orn Free Taa, Syndulla turned his attention towards the Confederacy of Independent Systems following its invasion of Ryloth during the Clone Wars. Forming the Twi'lek resistance, he fought alongside Jedi Master Ima-Gun Di and the Grand Army of the Galactic Republic in their initial attempts to repel the Separatist Councilor Wat Tambor and the Droid Army, but the Republic's initial assistance was limited and the Twi'leks were vastly outnumbered. Though Syndulla was reluctant to trust the Republic again and feared another military occupation of Ryloth, Syndulla ultimately allied himself with Jedi General Mace Windu and jointly liberated Ryloth from the Separatists.

His concerns over the Republic were eventually confirmed at the end of the Clone Wars when Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine declared himself Emperor and transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire. As Ryloth fell under Imperial military occupation, Syndulla reorganized the Twi'lek resistance into the Free Ryloth Movement to strike back. Hoping to deal a crippling blow to the Empire, the Movement attempted to assassinate the Emperor and his apprentice Darth Vader when they visited Ryloth, but the plan failed. In reality, it was a plot by the Emperor to lure the Free Ryloth Movement into a trap, and many of the movement's members were killed, though Syndulla managed to escape.

Syndulla's wife Eleni was killed at some point during the Ryloth insurgency and also had a son who died young, so Syndulla fully dedicated himself to his cause and cared only about liberating Ryloth. This created a strain in Syndulla's relationship with his daughter Hera, who left Ryloth to fight the Empire on other worlds. In the third year before the Battle of Yavin, Syndulla partnered with Hera and her rebel cell in order to capture an Imperial carrier over Ryloth for the rebel fleet. The elder Syndulla briefly betrayed the rebels in an attempt to destroy the carrier, hoping to use its destruction as a symbol to rally the people of Ryloth to his cause, but he ultimately helped the rebels capture the carrier. In the process, an *Arquitens*-class command cruiser was destroyed, giving Syndulla the symbol he hoped for. The events led him to reconcile with Hera and see the virtues of fighting the Empire beyond just Ryloth. Syndulla's continual prioritization of Ryloth's liberation, however, contributed to a series of losses in the following year to the analytical Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Imperial Navy, who occupied the Syndulla ancestral home in the Tann province and appropriated their kalikori, a Twi'lek family heirloom. Hera's subsequent efforts to retrieve the kalikori led to her temporary capture by Thrawn, forcing her to blow up the ancestral home during an attempted prisoner exchange between the elder and younger Syndullas to enable their escape.

## **Appearances**

* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 29: Rise of the Ghost Crew" (first mentioned)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 85: As Time Flies By" (first appearance)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 4: A Jedi in Exile* — "Chapter 86: Homecoming" (main story and recap)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 14: Hera's Heroes"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 15: Letting Go"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 30: Recovery" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 41: Ghosts of Geonosis Pt 1"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 42: Ghosts of Geonosis Pt 2" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 67: The Deal" (mentioned only)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 68: Wolves of Dume Pt 1"
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 69: Wolves of Dume Pt 2" (main story and recap)
* *Legacy of Jarik Shan - Volume 5: Rebirth* — "Chapter 70: Wolves of Dume Pt 3"