Hondo Ohnaka

During the Clone Wars, the Weequay pirate Hondo Ohnaka led a gang of brigands on the Outer Rim world Florrum, making a dishonest living raiding starships and holding travelers for ransom. Hondo dreamed of the big score that would make him an underworld kingpin, and thought he’d achieved it when he captured the Sith Lord Count Dooku.

Dooku escaped Hondo’s clutches, as did Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The Jedi would deal with Hondo several more times – and they learned that while the pirate boss did possess a sense of honor, he never took sides in his relentless pursuit of profit. Sometimes Hondo was a valuable ally; other times he was a determined adversary.

Hondo’s ambitions made him powerful enemies. General Grievous sought to avenge Dooku’s capture by storming the Ohnaka gang’s base, and Darth Maul began his rise to power by trying to wrest control of Hondo’s brigands.

Years after the Clone Wars, Ohnaka encountered the young Padawan, Ezra Bridger, aboard the Broken Horn. Bridger was answering an SOS, though Ohnaka claimed he’d won the ship from the gangster Cikatro Vizago. Impressed with the boy, he proposed they become partners. When the Empire arrived, there was little time to negotiate, and the two were off on an adventure. They eventually found themselves face-to-face with the slimy crime lord Azmorigan, looking to sell him power converters, but he decided instead to kill them both. They managed to escape, and Ezra revealed himself to be a Jedi; Ohnaka was delighted, as it brought back memories…and presented an opportunity. Maybe the boy would be a Jedi pirate?

Back on the Broken Horn, however, Bridger found Vizago in the brig. He claimed that he never lost the ship to Ohnaka — rather, the Weequay betrayed him and stole it. Ezra freed the gangster and helped him reclaim the Horn, though Vizago turned on the boy, as well. In the end, Hondo, Bridger, and the droid reached safety, though the boy decided not to join Ohnaka. “Oh, Ezra,” Ohnaka said. “You truly are a Jedi.”

After their initial meeting, Hondo later contacted Ezra Bridger with some intel: Imperials had Lasat survivors in custody and were transporting them. Based on this information, the Ghost crew freed the prisoners. Hondo, naturally, figured out a way to profit from the situation.

Along with Azmorigan and the Ghost team, Hondo tried to steal heavy weaponry from an abandoned Imperial ship near Wynkahthu. Things went haywire when Imperial sentry droids reactivated, and the only treasure Hondo walked away with was friendship: Melch, an Ugnaught and old crew member of Hondo’s, had stowed away in his crate.