Durge

Durge was a notorious Gen'Dai bounty hunter who was known for being difficult to kill. Durge was active during the Clone Wars between the Confederacy of Independent Systems and Galactic Republic. Durge worked with the Confederacy, and at one point, he piloted a Rogue-class Porax-38 starfighter over a green astronomical object.

Durge's reputation grew over the course of the war; there was talk of the bounty hunter as if he was virtually unkillable despite the efforts of Jedi and clone troopers. The Weequay pirate Hondo Ohnaka encountered individuals who had heard the tales but had never seen the hunter with their own eyes. The tales spread and Durge's name became feared on countless worlds.

Durge's next known action came in 3 ABY, during the reign of the Galactic Empire; he was hired to capture Ebann Drake, who was wanted in two different systems for weapons smuggling and murder. Traveling aboard his starship in pursuit of his target, Durge tracked Drake to the abandoned luxury starship Opal Empress. However, the ship was filled with corpses, including Drake's. While exploring, he also met the rogue archeologist Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra and smuggler Sana Starros. When Durge threatened them both, Aphra explained that she and Starros had not killed any of the people aboard.

The three of them were then attacked by a swarm of parasitic cymotes, which chased them throughout the ship. As Durge fought the parasites, Aphra remembered that cymotes were sensitive to atmospheric pressure changes, which gave them the idea to lure the creatures to an airlock and jettison them from the ship. Durge aided in their plan by leading the cymotes to one of the ship's airlocks. Once he entered the airlock with the parasites, Aphra closed the airlock on him and jettisoned him into space along with the cymotes, which exploded in the vacuum of space. Though Durge did not pursue Aphra or Starros, he remained alive.

Sometime later between 3 ABY and 4 ABY, Durge spectated two Kowakian monkey-lizards fight in a small arena along with the assassin Deathstick at the Bounty Hunters Guild Social Club on the planet D'Assem. As they watch the fight, a brawl started within the club and Durge formed a truce with Deathstick while they fight other bounty hunters. After the brawl concluded, Durge apologized to the club owner for the mess. Seeing a potential, the scoundrel Khel Tanna hired Durge and Deathstick to join the bounty hunter T'onga and her crew in an effort to save the cyborg Beilert Valance from losing his memory and what was left of his humanity after the Imperial Special Forces Inferno Squad did a memory wipe on him under the order of Lieutenant Jyala Haydenn to protect classified Imperial information.

Their first job was to track down the lethal bounty hunter Boba Fett. Fett's head was recently put on a big bounty by the criminal syndicate Black Sun, making him an even more dangerous target to confront than usual. Other crew members joining in for the job were the Trandoshan Bossk'wassak'Cradossk, the shapeshifting Clawdite Catak, and the Gand Findsman Zuckuss, along with his droid friend 4-LOM. Durge and the rest of the crew then went aboard Tanna's light freighter Enigma Catalyst and start their journey to track down Fett. While on the ship, Durge saw Bossk and Catak getting into an argument after the latter shapshifted into one of Valance's past lover Yuralla Vega to mock the cyborg, though the giant Gen'Dai knocked both of them down after getting annoyed by the loud noise they made. The commotion prompted a sarcastic remark by Deathstick about the crew.

Soon after, they arrived on the Rishi Moon to ambush Fett. He was resting in the wreckage of the Republic outpost Rishi Station, preparing to fight whoever came to hunt him down. T'onga carefully approached Fett and gave him his first and final warning to stand down, which he denied. The crew of bounty hunters and assassins started to open fire at Fett to take him down, though Fett was able to hold himself up. Durge threw a big piece of scrap which hit Fett's jetpack and caused him to fall. Durge continued running toward the fallen bounty hunter and kicked him aside, though Fett recovered and shot a missile at Durge. He dodged the missle initially, but had not realize that the projectile turned, hitting him on the back and knocking him down. Fett handled other bounty hunters and assassins quiet efficiently, although he was later caught a knifepoint by T'onga. Rather than killing Fett, she threw a small pouch of credits to hire the wanted bounty hunter. Fett accepted the offer, though he also offered a job for the crew regarding the bounty still currently on his head.

Soon after, Durge and the rest of the crew went aboard Fett's starship Slave I, while Catak stayed in the Enigma Catalyst for extraction. While on the way to the junk moon Quantxi, Fett asked Valance if he remembered him, though the cyborg struggled to remember. Valance then asked if they were friends and Fett corrected him that they were acquaintances. Deathstick disrupted the conversation to tell them about their arrival on the moon. As they land on the junk moon, a regiment of Black Sun gangsters surrounded Slave I and awaited their arrival to collect Fett. Before going out to meet with the Black Sun, Fett reminded T'onga of their agreements and to uphold her part of the bargain. Bossk taunted Fett about double-crossing the wanted bounty hunter, to which Fett responded by headbutting the Trandosan aside.

Durge and the rest of the crew walked out with Fett locked in stuncuffs to be handed to the Black Sun. Delighted to see Fett apprehended, the Falleen Lord Xanak Grunseit electrocuted him with a small stunner which made Deathstick unsure of who to root for. Before Lord Grunseit tortured Fett any further, T'onga stopped him and reminded the terms of their agreement by completing the payment before doing anything else to Fett. Lord Grunseit apologized and asked for the bounty hunters to disarm all of their weapons due to the highly explosive gas leaks from the junk piles throughout the area. 4-LOM and Zuckuss shared some concerns of it being a trap with 4-LOM not scanning any such gases. T'onga agreed with their concerns too, though she still complied with the order nonetheless. Grunseit then proceeded to walk and led the others. As they walk, the Falleen admitted that he put Fett's head on the bounty to protect himself from the feared bounty hunter after a death mark was placed by the Hutt Clan. Grunseit added that he was the great nephew of the most revered Black Sun leader Xomit Grunseit and the cousin to the current leader of the criminal syndicate.

They were led to a facility by Grunseit, expected to be paid for the completed bounty per their agreement. Unfortunately, the bounty hunters were surrounded by Grunseit's forces shortly after entering the facility. The Falleen told them that he needed the credits to back his claim in the criminal syndicate, betraying the deal initially agreed upon with T'onga. While Durge and others were held at gunpoint by Grunseit's forces, he attempted to remove Fett's helmet, wanting to stab him in the eye with a dagger. Fett evaded the attempt and admitted that he was not working for the Hutts but the leader of Black Sun itself before throwing a small ball of deadly fast-acting neurotoxin Syntox at the Falleen's face; immediately killing Grunseit in the process.

Grunseit's death caused a massive shoot-out between the crew and the Black Sun. Valance immediately opened fire by shooting his palm blaster, incinerating some of the enemy forces. Durge, annoyed by the loud noise; rampaged his way through and stole an E-Web heavy repeating blaster cannon. As they kept fighting, the crew was slowly getting overwhelmed by the enemy forces. The Gen'Dai started to become impatient and shot his way through with the heavy repeating blaster, almost immediately finishing the battle. With the battle over, Durge and the crew fulfilled their end of the bargain. Fett then fulfilled his end of the bargain by giving the coordinates to the cyborg fixer Tarr Kligson. Fett told T'onga that he got the information from the only person he trusted and promptly left with the Slave I. Tanna then called Catak for extraction of the crew.

Shortly after, Durge and the rest of the crew went back to the Enigma Catslyst to follow a lead provided by Fett. Before the ship departed, Valance's condition worsened as his memory continued to fade away. Lost in his memory, Valance was awaken by a concerned 4-LOM, though the cyborg told him that he is fine. Durge waited at the back of the ship as Tanna and T'onga figure out the lead. Unsure about Fett's promise, Tanna questioned where he got the lead about Kligson to begin with. Unbeknownst to Tanna and the rest of the crew, Kligson was an old friend of Fett's own father, Jango Fett. Following the lead, they were led to an empty remote moon. With his ability, Zuckuss sensed a presence out there, with 4-LOM scanning an orbital body hidden by a distortion field. Tanna realized that the lead was not only coordinates, but also a code. She then sent the code, which revealed a space station.

Landing on the mysterious space station, Durge and the crew proceeded to walk out and was greeted by the droid Telemak, who claimed to be the assistant of the guardian of the Haven. The droid asked how they managed to arrive at the station. In response, T'onga told them about Fett. Fascinated by the cyborg, Telemak brought Valance into the station for treatment while the rest of the crew waited outside. As hours went by, Bossk and Durge grew impatient and complained, which prompted a threat from Deathstick toward the Trandoshan. While Durge continues to wait, T'onga sent Zuckuss and 4-LOM to inspect the station further.

Later, while T'onga argued with Telemak about how Valance still had not returned, Deathstick commented to Durge that they would be blasting their way out of the Haven soon, which he agreed with. Unbeknownst to them, Telemak was being remotely controlled by Tarr Kligson, who had also wiped Valance's memory. The droid soon deactivated, and Bossk complained that he was losing his patience. Deathstick recommended that they turn Telemak back on and find out what was in their memory bank, and Durge slammed a finger into the droid's head, knocking it off. He loomed menacingly over Catak when the Clawdite reprimanded him for his impulsive actions.

Eventually, Valance walked into the hangar, accompanied by Kligson himself. His face had a blank expression, as the presumed cyborg fixer had taken control of him. In response, Catak attempted to calm him down by impersonating Yuralla Vega, though Valance disintegrated their head with his palm blaster, killing the Clawdite in an instant. Shocked by Valance's action, T'onga stepped in front of the cyborg, convincing him of his humanity. Similarly, Valance gave only a blank emotion, about to strike T'onga, which Zuckuss disrupted. The Gand then tried to take the cyborg down, soon followed by Bossk, though their attempt failed. With his last bit of humanity gone, Kligson pronounced that Valance was a perfect killing machine, preparing the cyborg as an empty vessel for a higher consciousness. Deathstick also attempted to strike Valance down; to her surprise, the cyborg moved faster than he ever was before, striking the assassin down instead.

T'onga once again stood against the lost cyborg, trying to convince him to stop, though she was interrupted by Durge, who wanted to take a shot at taking Valance down too. The Gen'Dai fought the cyborg, though similarly lost that fight, getting pierced and embedded in a wall by a long metal rod. Durge claimed that the fight was not over, though Valance ignored him, leaving the hangar with Kligson. Droid forces soon came, trying to take the crew down. Annoyed, Durge took down a droid and pulled the piercing rod from his abdomen. As Kligson and the others were about to leave the outpost, he was betrayed and left behind, getting caught by Durge and the rest of the crew. When asked by Deathstick if they failed, T'onga stated otherwise, to which Tanna objected and asked for her to come to terms with the loss of Valance. In anger, T'onga clarified that their goal was no longer about saving Valance, but killing him instead.

Following their failure to apprehend Valance and his departure, Durge and the rest of the crew received the cyborg's last known whereabouts from Telemak. They continued to go after the cyborg and headed to the tech-based world Epikonia, though the uncertainty and risk of the mission caused some arguments between them. As they approached the planet, T'onga told the rest that they needed to move swiftly to keep the element of surprise. However, looking from above, they realized that the city they were about to approach had been taken over by droids. Shortly after they landed, T'onga stated that the mission remained unchanged.

With his ability, Zuckuss sensed that something was wrong, before getting struck from behind by Durge. Shocked by the Gen'Dai's betrayal, T'onga tried to pull out a blaster, though she was stopped by Deathstick. Durge and the others had secretly joined forces with Tanna, overthrowing T'onga's leadership. Staying loyal to T'onga, Zuckuss was then thrown out of the Enigma Catalyst, with T'onga being thrown right after. Durge and the rest of the crew left the two for dead on the overtaken planet. In the end, however, the pair would be rescued by T'onga's wife Losha Tarkon and her former enemy Vukorah, with Valance's memories up to the Attack on the Executor even being restored thanks to data supplied by former Imperial officer Jyala Haydenn.

One week after a death match between Valance and the Megadroid owned by the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure was broadcasted, Durge drank various alcoholic beverages at the Bounty Hunters Guild Social Club to celebrate another successful bounty with Tanna and her crew. At some point, Durge and the rest of the crew went back to the Bounty Hunters Guild Social Club on D'Assem, where Valance and his compatriots also were.

Around 9 ABY, Ohnaka noted his knowledge and information about some of the most notorious bounty hunters in the galaxy in his guide book The Secrets of the Bounty Hunters, which also included Durge. He had heard stories and talks about the gargantuan bounty hunter during the Clone Wars. Even Starros had also told Ohnaka about her and Aphra's encounter with the Gen'Dai on the Opal Empress.

However, Ohnaka was unsure if it was truly the same legendary bounty hunter they had encountered, even though her description of him matched. The Weequay felt that even if it was Durge, he had no way of knowing if it was the same individual as from the old stories. Ohnaka admitted that even with his extensive knowledge and experience, the Gen'Dai bounty hunter was a mysterious legend that he was unwilling to dig deeper; fearing his own safety. Unbeknownst to Ohnaka, it actually had been the same bounty hunter from the Clone Wars.

Infamous and fearsome in nature, Durge worked as a bounty hunter on his own time. Aphra deduced he was expensive to hire. He enjoyed his reputation of being hard to kill, openly mentioning it to Aphra and Starros shortly after meeting them, and was more than willing to strike down his enemies, even if it meant bringing about the extinction of a species. All the same, based on her experience with expensive-to-hire hunters, Aphra reasoned that he was not the type of person to senselessly slaughter an entire ship if he was only in pursuit of a single target, noting how such slaughter would waste the hunter's time. He had a calm demeanor and only spoke when he needed to, or was provoked. Despite his massive armament, Durge disliked loud noises. He was also significantly taller than Bossk's height of 1.90 meters.

Similar to others of his species, Durge had regenerative properties that allowed him to take damage that other species would consider fatal, such as being pierced through the abdomen. As his profession suggested, Durge was skilled in using a variety of weapons. As a Gen'Dai warrior, Durge had a large stature and incredible strength. Being able to handle a plethora of enemies surrounding him with no issue and carried large cannons like the E-Web heavy repeating blaster cannon as if it was a Z-6 rotary blaster cannon.

Durge wore a suit of powerful silver armor with blue and red markings, being able to withstand blaster fires without leaving a mark. He also wore a helmet fully covering his face. He was armed with a large, multi-barreled rifle, which alone convinced Aphra that his rate was expensive, a bola, and other variety of armament on his armor. In addition to his large armament, the Gen'Dai was very resourceful with his surroundings, with Durge once even picking up and wielding an E-Web heavy repeating blaster cannon as a hand-held blaster. During the Clone Wars, he flew a Rogue-class Porax-38 starfighter. He also piloted a starship during the Imperial Era.

Durge first appeared in the current Star Wars canon in the tenth issue of the 2020 comic series Star Wars: Doctor Aphra written by Alyssa Wong and pencilled by Ray-Anthony Height.

Durge was originally introduced in the Star Wars Legends continuity in the fifty-first issue of the comic series Star Wars: Republic, written by W. Haden Blackman, illustrated by Tomás Giorello, and published by Dark Horse Comics on March 19, 2003. He was created by Lucasfilm Ltd. as part of the Clone Wars multimedia project to be a new and memorable bounty hunter antagonist who could challenge the Jedi, designed by the Skywalker Ranch Art Department and named by Lucasfilm employees, whereas Blackman wrote his backstory and personality.

Early in the development of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, Star Wars creator George Lucas mandated that there would be no bounty hunters, as the series was to focus solely on the conflict and those swept up in it. However, as work on the first season progressed, there came a role that needed to be filled by a bounty hunter. Initially, Supervising Director Dave Filoni and writer Henry Gilroy explored incorporating Durge into the series. He was reimagined as a Human with elaborate body armor and gadgets, with his more outlandish alien features being excised due to budget constraints.

This was short-lived, however, as Filoni preferred creating new characters for the series and believed that the bounty hunter character should not be called Durge if they were unable to replicate the shapeshifting abilities he had displayed in the earlier Clone Wars multimedia project. The next iteration of the bounty hunter character, named Nom Kahbah by Gilroy, retained Durge's all-concealing armor. However, the lines were smoothed out to resemble something from World War II–era Germany.

After seeing concept art of Kahbah, George Lucas suggested the character instead draw from iconic characters from the Spaghetti Westerns that inspired the original Star Wars films, which ultimately led to the creation of the Duros bounty hunter Cad Bane.

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