Dessard was a commandant who served the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. He was stationed at a Wookiee child slave labor camp during the liberation of Kashyyyk. After the Wookiee slave Lumpawaroo escaped, Dessard and his men gave chase. However, they stumbled into a group of adult Wookiees and New Republic soldiers. Dessard's men were killed and the Commandant himself was taken prisoner by Waroo's father Chewbacca.
Dessard was the Imperial commandant of a Wookiee child slave labor camp on the slopes of Mount Arayakyak on the planet Kashyyyk in 5 ABY. He ruled the enslaved Wookiee children with an iron fist. Prior to the liberation of Kashyyyk, Dessard used inhibitor chips to keep the enslaved Wookiees in line. These inhibitor chips put the Wookiees in extreme pain if they disobeyed orders or tried to escape. The Wookiee charges including Lumpawaroo referred to Dessard and his men as or "milk-skins". After a team of New Republic operatives and Wookiee rebels led by Han Solo and Chewbacca disabled the inhibitors and ended Grand Moff Lozen Tolruck's rule, Dessard's camp became one of the Imperial holdouts on Kashyyyk.
Dessard and his men briefly managed to reassert control over the Wookiee children by using chains, collars, shock-lances, and blasters. However, Dessard and his comrades were demoralized by the news of the Imperial defeat. They often fought among themselves and ceased to clean themselves. One day, Lumpawaroo managed to escape before Dessard could close the pylon-gate. Unwilling to let any of the slaves or his men leave the camp, Dessard and his troops gave chase.
Waroo swung through the dying trees of Mount Arayakyak but fell after he came into contact with a . Dessard and his men surrounded Waroo. Determined to set an example, Dessard ordered his men to kill the Wookiee slave. However, Dessard's men were then gunned down by several adult Wookiee and New Republic soldiers. With the tables turned, Dessard crawled on his hands and knees and knelt before Waroo. One of the Wookiees, Chewbacca, who was Waroo's father, then forced Dessard to the ground with a tree-trunk leg. While New Republic soldiers arrested Dessard, Waroo reunited with his father.
Dessard was a vicious little human man with a greasy peak of dark hair. He wore a filthy gray officer's uniform following the Liberation of Kashyyyk. Dessard was known to be cruel to the Wookiee child slaves in his care and used various implements including inhibitor chips, chains, collars, shock-lances, and blasters to keep them under control. Dessard and his men were demoralized by news of the liberation of Kashyyyk. Unwilling to concede defeat, Dessard refused to let any of his men or the Wookiee slaves escape his camp and was willing to kill them. When outnumbered and outgunned, Dessard wisely surrendered to Wookiee and New Republic forces.
Dessard is a minor antagonist in Chuck Wendig's 2017 novel Aftermath: Empire's End, the last installment in The Aftermath Trilogy. He appears in the short interlude chapter Kashyyyk, told through the point of view of Chewbacca's son Lumpawaroo.