Ryyder attended a session of the Senate in 32 BBY in which Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo called for a Vote of No Confidence in Valorum, which succeeded. Under the new chancellor, Sheev Palpatine, the Republic suffered a series of crises over the next ten years. Exhausted and depressed, Ryyder eventually retired from his position several weeks before the Clone Wars began in 22 BBY. In retirement, he once again set out to travel to the worlds he had represented, but, as a great opera lover, continued to visit the Galaxies Opera House on Coruscant, where he was present in 19 BBY during a performance of Squid Lake.
Horox Ryyder was senator of the Raioballo sector.
Horox Ryyder was an Anx male from the planet Gravlex Med who served as a senator for his homeworld and the thousands of other worlds in the Raioballo sector in the Galactic Republic's Galactic Senate in a career that lasted for over fifty years. During this time, the skills and knowledge he accrued allowed him to make many allies in the Senate, including the Alderaanian Senator Bail Organa and the Wookiee Senator Yarua. An extremely conscientious politician, Ryyder traveled across the galaxy when not on the Republic's capital, Coruscant, causing some to joke that the Anx wished to meet each of his constituents personally.
Although corruption had been endemic in the Republic before Ryyder took office, he sometimed percieved causes for hope within the Senate's ambient greed. One of these was his colleague Finis Valorum, whom the Anx saw as an honorable man capable of restoring the Republic's past honor. When Valorum ran for the office of Supreme Chancellor, Ryyder supported his candidacy, and after Valorum succeeded, the Anx also supported his taxation of trade routes, having noticed that trade guilds such as the Trade Federation were one of the main causes of the failures in the Republic's political system. Convinced that the taxation would lessen the guilds' influence, Ryyder rejoiced when it was finally adopted; however, his enthusiasm was short-lived, as he soon learned that Valorum had been discredited by a serious scandal.
The next decade would be the worst of Ryyder's career, with all of his efforts proving insufficient to change the Senate's corruption. In 32 BBY, he attended a session of the Senate in the Senate Building on Coruscant. There, Queen Padmé Amidala of the planet Naboo made a plea for the Senate to help her end the invasion of her homeworld by the forces of the Trade Federation. Ryyder sat with another Anx in a repulsorpod that had been adjacent to Amidala's pod while the Trade Federation representative Lott Dod stalled Amidala's request with support from Senator Aks Moe. The queen then called for a Vote of No Confidence in Valorum, sending the Senate into an uproar.
Horox Ryyder (bottom right) witnessed Queen Padmé Amidala call for a Vote of No Confidence in Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum.
Valorum was replaced as Supreme Chancellor by Senator Sheev Palpatine, under whom the Republic saw a series of successive crises culminating in the formation of the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Separatist Crisis. Ryyder agreed to support Amidala, by then a senator, in her opposition to the Military Creation Act, but while doing so, the exhausted and depressed Anx realized he could no longer carry out his duties. Just a few weeks before the outbreak of the Clone Wars in 22 BBY, Ryyder left his post as one of the most respected representatives in the Senate.
Ryyder's retirement was a bitter one, as he knew that the Republic faced further difficult times ahead. The Anx's colleagues missed him once he was gone, but no one was surprised when the retired Ryyder chose to visit all the planets he had represented while in office. However, this grueling journey, while an extraordinary initiative, only further exhausted the old Anx due to the sorry state of galactic politics. Despite this, he continued to speak out against the greed and corruption in politics.
A great lover of opera, Horox Ryyder (right) attended a showing of Squid Lake.
A great lover of opera, Ryyder was a regular at the Galaxies Opera House on Coruscant and continued to attend even in his retirement. In 19 BBY, he was present in the building during a performance of the Mon Calamari ballet Squid Lake. He sat on a bench in one of the Opera House's corridors conversing with two humans as the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker rushed past on his way to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's personal viewing box.
At over four meters tall, Horox Ryyder's imposing stature set him apart from other senators, but his presence went beyond merely his physical appearance. Although he had a relatively tough approach to current affairs, Ryyder was well known for his patience and insight, which along with his integrity, charisma, and serious nature, earned him the respect and admiration of the entire Republic. Calm, wise, and extremely conscientious, he possessed a quiet and soothing demeanor that made the senator gain many allies. Ryyder's five decades of experience saw him acquire a great deal of skill, knowledge, and facilities that few could equal. However, it also left him bitter, exhausted, and depressed, regretting old times and what had become of the Republic and Senate. Ryyder had orange eyes and yellow skin and was a great lover of opera.
Doug Chiang created concept art used for Ryyder.
Horox Ryyder first appeared in the 1999 prequel trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, where he was portrayed by Jerome Blake. Although Ryyder is visible in one shot of the film in a senate pod to the lower right of the Naboo delegation's pod and his pod remains visible, the character is not visible in the following shot that shows the Naboo delegation's pod detaching from the Galactic Senate Chamber's wall. Ryyder's scene in the 2005 prequel trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, was shot entirely on blue-screen on R Stage at Shepperton Studios as part of additional photography on Monday, August 23, 2004.
Ryyder's design originated in a piece of concept art drawn by artist Doug Chiang for which sculptor John Coppinger created the 3D character maquette. Coppinger liked the concept sketch enough that he only made small alterations necessary to translate the design from 2D to 3D when sculpting, adding some details and changing proportions. The maquette was ultimately used in the creation of both Ryyder and another Anx named Graxol Kelvyyn.
Horox Ryyder's rig was also used for Graxol Kelvyyn (Pictured).
The basic rig for both Anx characters consisted of the performer standing on twenty-four-inch stilts with the head standing thirty-six inches above that of the performer, making the character almost eleven feet tall in total. The rig was shown to director George Lucas with Coppinger inside, allowing Lucas to realize that including an Anx in frame with shorter characters such as Yoda would require the camera to be too far back. As such, Ryyder and Kelvyyn are only ever shown sitting down.
In the new Star Wars canon, the character's name was first used in the mobile card game Star Wars: Force Collection, which initially launched in 2013. Although the launch of Force Collection predates the Star Wars canon reset of 2014, Lucasfilm Story Group member Leland Chee confirmed that the game was kept updated to fit with canon. The name originated in the Star Wars Legends continuity, where it was first used in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace The Official Souvenir Magazine, which was released alongside the film by Topps.
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