Ghorin was a Human male who served as Imperial overlord of the Greater Plooriod Cluster during the early Galactic Civil War. His territory contained several agricultural worlds, and he was a major food supplier to the Empire. After the Battle of Yavin, Ghorin presented himself as sympathetic to the Alliance to Restore the Republic and offered to supply them with food. However, this was only part of a scheme intended to poison Rebel forces with tainted grain. The Rebels soon discovered Ghorin's plot and responded with a plan designed to discredit the overlord in the eyes of the Emperor. The operation was a success and Ghorin was assumed to be a traitor to the Empire. He was personally executed by Darth Vader in his castle on Plooriod III.
A Human male who lived during the reign of Emperor Palpatine, Ghorin was a strong supporter of the Galactic Empire, and, by 0 ABY, had become the Imperial ruler of the Greater Plooriod Cluster, an area of the galaxy containing several agricultural worlds that served as major suppliers of grain to the Empire. Holding the title of overlord, Ghorin ruled over his territory from a vast castle overlooking the ocean on Plooriod III. He soon earned a reputation as a ruthless and cunning ruler.
Ghorin's castle on Plooriod III
Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, in which the Alliance to Restore the Republic destroyed the Death Star, an Imperial battlestation with the power to destroy a planet, the Rebels were forced to abandon their base on Yavin 4. However, losses during the escape from Yavin left them critically low on food supplies. In search of a new source of food, the Rebels launched a series of operations around the Ploo sector. Learning of the Alliance's need, Ghorin devised a plan to poison many Rebels by supplying them with poisoned grain.
Claiming to have grown sympathetic to the Rebellion, Ghorin entered negotiations with the Rebels to supply them with grain and to potentially become a member of the Alliance. Though his reputation made the Rebels suspicious of him, their growing desperation left Ordnance and Supply Command with little choice other than to consider his offer. An initial shipment was arranged to be delivered at a transfer point near the edge of the Greater Plooriod Cluster, and Ghorin dispatched three BFF-1 bulk freighters from Transmor group to deliver the tainted grain to the Rebels.
The Rebels, however, remained suspicious of Ghorin's motives and conducted thorough tests of the grain before distributing it to their forces. When the tests revealed that Ghorin had double-crossed them, Alliance High Command devised a plan to get revenge on the overlord, codenamed Operation Grain Snatch. The CR90 corvette Halifax was delivering Ghorin's payment for a recent shipment of grain to the Empire, under escort from six of his BTL Y-wing starfighters. Alliance starfighters and shuttles were sent to intercept the convoy—Rebel Y-wings disabled the Halifax and its escorts, allowing the shuttles to board and capture Ghorin's Y-wings and to take his payment as compensation.
Ghorin is visited by Darth Vader.
Having captured some of Ghorin's Y-wings, the Rebels planned to use them in a series of operations designed to discredit the overlord by convincing the Empire that Ghorin had betrayed them and not the Alliance. They first used the Y-wings to destroy grain supplies at an Imperial storage area in the Hollan D1 sector. This was followed by a strike on a convoy of CR90 corvettes delivering food to the Geedon system. Finally, the Rebels intercepted a convoy delivering grain from Ghorin to the Empire. After disabling the convoy craft, Rebel ships boarded them and replaced the crews. Furthermore, the convoy's cargo of grain was replaced with the tainted grain that Ghorin had previously supplied to the Alliance. The entire operation was timed to be concluded before the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Badi Dea arrived, at which point the Rebels aboard the convoy craft completed the delivery of the tainted grain to the Empire.
The operation was a success and, after the poisoned grain was distributed to Imperial forces, Ghorin was presumed to be a traitor to the Empire. Upon hearing of Ghorin's apparent betrayal, Emperor Palpatine dispatched the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader to Plooriod III to confront him. Ghorin, unaware that he had been framed by the Rebels, greeted Vader in his throne room, but the Dark Lord wasted no time on explanations and promptly executed the overlord.
The black-haired, blue-eyed Ghorin was a corpulent individual with light skin who ruled over the Greater Plooriod Cluster from a vast castle on Plooriod III. He made the most of his opulent surroundings and would sit in a throne while he was fanned by servant droids. The overlord had a reputation as a heavy-handed ruler and was likened by some to Emperor Palpatine. It was this reputation that led the Alliance to be suspicious of him and to ultimately discover his deception.
Ghorin wore a purple dress uniform, complete with epaulets.
Ghorin was created for Star Wars: X-Wing Tour of Duty: Imperial Pursuit, the first expansion pack to the LucasArts video game Star Wars: X-Wing, released in 1994. The character is mentioned in several briefings and appears during a single cut scene depicting his death. The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, published in 2008, had an entry for Ghorin which refers to his castle on Plooriod IV. This contradicts the Imperial Pursuit cut scene, which shows the castle on Plooriod III.
- X-Wing Collector's CD-ROM: The Official Strategy Guide
- The Essential Chronology
- The Official Star Wars Fact File94
- The New Essential Chronology
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia