Holdan

Holdan was once an intergalactic customs agent, a profession in which he learned various tricks used to catch smugglers. This background proved immensely useful when he was afterwards recruited into the Exchange criminal organization and became one of the top couriers for Davik Kang, head of the Exchange on the planet Taris, ferrying packages to other planets and back. Being versed in counter-smuggling strategies ironically helped him conduct successful smuggling operations for the Exchange.

Holdan frequented Javyar's Cantina in the Lower City of Taris, where he flirted with the women he encountered. This set him up for trouble when he became attracted to the waitress Dia and made advances on her, only to be harshly rebuffed. Incensed and drunk, Holdan forced himself onto her, causing her to feel violated and retaliate with a vibroblade. According to Zax, a Hutt in charge of the bounty office located in the cantina, Holdan was nearly killed in the ensuing scuffle, humiliating him in front of his friends. His pride wounded and left with a scar to remind him of the incident, the furious courier placed a bounty of 300 credits on Dia's head while he rested in the medical bay.

As soon as he had recovered, Holdan returned to enjoying himself at Javyar's Cantina, albeit focused more on Twi'lek women than Humans given his recent experience. He found that the event had harmed his reputation in the eyes of other female patrons, who largely began to give him the silent treatment.

It was at Javyar's that he was found by the Galactic Republic soldier Revan—in truth, an amnesiac former Sith Lord—during the Sith quarantine of Taris, a part of the Jedi Civil War in the year 3956 BBY. When asked about the incident with Dia, Holdan gave his perspective, insisting that the waitress had overreacted—much to the derision of Revan's friends. The former Sith sympathized with Dia's plight and was determined to convince Holdan to withdraw the bounty. Though Holdan was initially reluctant, believing that he must have his payback, he ultimately relented and informed Zax the bounty was to be withdrawn.

As one of Kang's henchmen, Holdan, a Human male with fair skin, blue eyes, and dark brown hair, was steadfastly loyal and proud to be serving such a powerful man, believing that it entitled him to unconditional respect from common civilians. To that end, he could little tolerate insults or humiliation from others, as he felt compelled to uphold the intimidating reputation afforded to him by his affiliation. While he bore an inflated ego due to his status, at the roots of this was an inferiority complex: he could not bear to be looked down upon by others such as his friends or the people around him.

Holdan was a womanizer who enjoyed visiting the cantina just to mingle with attractive women or to gaze at the alluring Twi'lek dancers on stage. Despite his fondness for women, he barely valued their worth as people. When he was grievously injured by Dia in the wake of his sexual harassment of her, he cared little for her perspective, determining only that she was a crazy woman who needed to be punished with death. The thought of her death weighed little on him, and he treated it as a casual affair at best, telling himself that he would still have plenty of other women to play with. It was a moot topic to him at the end, even while he expressed mild pity over it. Just as he gave her a death sentence on a whim from his rage, so too did he waive his bounty on her on a whim.

Holdan appears as a non-player character in a side-quest in the 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. He is responsible for putting a bounty on the head of a woman named Dia, a scenario that can be resolved in a few different ways.

If the player chooses the dark side path, he/she kills Dia and accepts the bounty from Zax, worth 300 credits or 400 if the player successfully bargains for more.

If the player chooses to save Dia's life for the light side course, he/she has to convince Holdan to drop the bounty. Holdan will demand a price of 200 credits to do so, a sum that the impoverished Dia is unable to contribute, and must be handed in all from the player. Holdan will abide by the agreement and withdraw the bounty. Alternatively, if the player has a high enough Persuade skill level, Holdan can be easily convinced to drop the case without any cost, using the argument that it would not be manly of him to hire bounty hunters to murder her. Should the player fail in persuasion due to insufficient skill level and Bastila Shan is present, the Jedi will automatically compel Holdan to acquiesce with Force persuasion.

If Mission Vao is in the party when Holdan is describing his version of the story, she will interject with the remark: "Yeah, sure. You were as innocent as a Jawa in a droid chop shop!" Similarly, if Carth Onasi is in the party, he will interject at the same spot with the remark: "Yeah, right. Sounds to me like she was defending herself." If both Vao and Onasi are present, Vao's comment will supersede that of Onasi. If Bastila Shan is present, she will supersede either with her own comment: "It sounds to me like the woman was defending herself."

Holdan has the exact same character model and outfit as another NPC in the game Gelrood, despite them both being found in Javyar's Cantina simultaneously.

• Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic: Prima's Official Strategy Guide
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia