Jost Ellon was a young Human male who lived on Dodz as a scavenger during the Imperial Period. His family was killed by the planet's governor, Kugg, who imposed his will upon the populace through the use of a killer droid named the Destroyer. Ellon would constantly rail against Kugg's rule, arming himself with a blaster pistol as he attempted to eke out a living by repairing whatever he could scavenge. Among the items he gathered was an outmoded Ranger X-One defense robot, although Ellon initially did not know of the unit's true nature as a defensive unit.
Circa 15 BBY, Ellon came across two droids, C-3PO and R2-D2, who had traveled to Dodz to serve the crystal merchant Lott Kemp. As Kemp had fled Kugg's rule, Ellon decided to employ the droids himself, and put them to work lifting any heavy items that he could scavenge. C-3PO managed to identify Ellon's X-One unit, and R2-D2 managed to activate it, although its state of disrepair meant it could only function in a limited capacity. Nevertheless, Ellon used the X-One to confront and defeat Kugg's Destroyer, with the assistance of R2-D2. The damage sustained by the R2-series astromech droid during the encounter, however, could not be repaired on Dodz, and so Ellon was forced to part with his two latest acquisitions.
Jost Ellon was a young Human male growing up on the remote planet Dodz during the Imperial Period. The planet was ruled over by Governor Kugg, whose taxes punished the merchants of Dodz. The governor ruled with an iron fist, and would deploy a killer droid named the Destroyer to inflict grievous harm upon those who refused to pay the taxes. Among the first casualties of Kugg's rule were Ellon's family, leaving the young Human alone and orphaned.
The loss of his family gave rise to an anti-establishment attitude in the young Ellon, who was prone to suspicion and violence towards those in gubernatorial service. He resided alone in a cave, distant from any settlement, and from there he scavenged what material he could from abandoned scrapyards and the like. Ellon would repair whatever he could and then sell it—he earned enough to maintain his standard of living. An issue that the young Human faced, however, was that he could not identify all of the items that he had recovered, among them a large box marked "X-1" in High Galactic. The box was so heavy that Ellon had to employ the use of a sled to bring it back to his cave.
Ellon and the X-One, unveiled
Circa 15 BBY, Jost Ellon took his landspeeder to the property of crystal merchant Lott Kemp, who had recently abandoned the planet to escape Kugg's reign. At Kemp's lot, Ellon hoped to scavenge anything of value. There, he chanced upon two droids who were hoping to serve Kemp—the astromech droid R2-D2 and the protocol droid C-3PO. Suspecting them to be agents of Kugg, Ellon placed the newcomers in the sights of his blaster pistol, and demanded to know their identities. C-3PO obliged, confirming that they were indeed there to serve Kemp—satisfied, Ellon put the droids to work loading some of the scavenged material onto his landspeeder, while decrying the administration of Kugg. Ellon divulged the reason behind Kemp's absence to C-3PO, before preparing to depart in his landspeeder. A thought occurred to the young man however, and he swiftly offered the two waylaid droids a job of heavy lifting. The newcomers, eager to assist, accepted, and joined Ellon in departing the area.
The trio arrived at Ellon's cave in due course, and the droids were set to work bringing the scavenged material in. The young Human went about explaining to the droids the loss of his family and his meager scavenge-and-repair business, lamenting his inability to identify some of the objects. C-3PO and R2-D2 in turn offered to assist in that regard—Ellon, pleased, asked them to clarify the nature of the "X-1" box. On the sight of it R2-D2 retreated into a nearby crate, while C-3PO explained that inside was a Ranger X-One defense robot, which the protocol droid speculated had been used by the crystal cave miners for defensive purposes, as the unit was designed to ward off any hostile activity.
Ellon was delighted, hoping that the X-One would prove a match for Kugg's Destroyer. C-3PO elaborated on the defense robot's history—they had been outmoded at the time of the Intergalactic Law Agency's inception, and the protocol droid speculated that the recall of Ellon's unit had been ignored. Ellon explained that the Intergalactic Law Agency had taken no action against Kugg, and asked R2-D2 to activate the robot. The astromech attempted to do so, but found that the X-One had corroded power cells. In frustration, Ellon kicked the large box, which in turn prompted the "box" to transform into the active X-One defense robot. The young Human was overjoyed at the development, but C-3PO speculated that the unit had expended most of what little energy it had left transforming.
Despite the state of disrepair into which the X-One had fallen, Ellon nonetheless sought to pit the robot against the Destroyer, and prepared to gatecrash a meeting of the Citizen's Council of Dodz. Upon reaching the Council Dwelling, Ellon, R2-D2, C-3PO and the X-One found that one of the building's walls had been torn open. The young Human quickly consulted with the Head Councilman, Althon—the Citizen's Council had just been terrorized by Kugg and the Destroyer. Ellon argued that now was the time to resist the governor's rule and fight back with the help of the X-One robot, but Althon would have none of it, telling the young Human to get rid of the defense unit lest Kugg learn of it and launch reprisals. Althon's argument was countered by an old man, who called on Ellon to carry out his intention of bringing an end to Kugg's reign, as their forefathers had done to men of similar ilk in years prior.
Ellon asks Althon to direct his thanks to the idle X-One unit in the wake of Governor Kugg's defeat.
The next day, Ellon, C-3PO, R2-D2, and the X-One watched from afar as Althon and the councilmen met with Governor Kugg and the Destroyer outside , and paid the requisite taxes. Ellon then chose to reveal his presence, directly challenging Kugg as he summoned the X-One. Althon was outraged by Ellon's defiance, and Kugg, livid at the development, ordered the Destroyer to demolish the young Human's defense robot. The two units began grappling with each other violently atop a hill, with the X-One gaining the upper hand at first before expending what remained of his energy. The Destroyer was able to subdue X-One, prompting urgency from Ellon, who drew his blaster and opened fire on Kugg's killer droid.
The Destroyer rounded on Ellon, and struck the young Human, rendering him briefly unconscious. Coming to, Ellon urged C-3PO and R2-D2 to save the X-One and stop the Destroyer—the astromech responded by engaging the Destroyer directly. R2-D2 fired cables into both the Destroyer and the X-One, draining power from Kugg's droid and feeding it into Ellon's robot. The fight between the two combatants resumed, prompting an energy overload in R2-D2. Ellon, now recovered from the earlier hit, had C-3PO get out of harm's way as R2-D2's efforts resulted in an explosion. As the smoke cleared, the X-One was left standing, but the Destroyer and R2-D2 were nowhere to be seen. C-3PO and Ellon were soon alerted to R2-D2's presence by the astromech itself, and recovered the damaged droid.
Kugg, now defenseless, was set upon by Althon and the other councilmen, who intended to subject him to an Intergalactic trial. Althon then apologized to Ellon for doubting his intentions earlier, but the only thanks that the young Human would accept was acknowledgment of the X-One unit, as the defense robot still stood idle atop the hill where it had battled the Destroyer. The councilman was in agreement on that matter. R2-D2, however, had sustained considerable microsynapse failure during the encounter, and it was determined that the repairs could not be effected on Dodz. Ellon was forced to part with the droids as a result, with the pair departing the planet to be tended to by the engineer Lonn Idd.
Jost Ellon, even at a youthful age, exhibited a disgust for the rule of Governor Kugg on Dodz, after having been orphaned by the administration. He was prone to violence when dealing with the governor's agents. This dislike of Kugg manifested itself in a suspicion of newcomers, with Ellon drawing his weapon on R2-D2 and C-3PO shortly after their initial arrival on Dodz. He was not afraid to denounce the governor's activities, particularly his taxation policies and the enforcement of those policies. Ellon also challenged Kugg directly, and was instrumental in having the governor deposed. In spite of the considerable nature of his actions, Ellon did not seek praise for himself, instead hoping that his X-One robot would be recognized in his stead.
Ellon was also an enterprising young man, trying to turn a profit from whatever scrap material that he could. He also saw opportunity when C-3PO and R2-D2 were left stranded on Dodz without a master. Thinking quickly, he hired the two droids to assist him in his scavenging work. He also saw an opportunity to put an end to Governor Kugg's rule upon the revelation that he possessed an X-One defense robot, a prospect that excited the young Human, to the point that he was unafraid to take his ideas direct to the Citizen's Council of Dodz. Ellon also made good use of his cave abode, stocking it full of scavenged material. Although the young Human conceded that it was an aesthetically unimpressive place of residence, he valued it as his home nonetheless.
Jost Ellon owned a landspeeder, and a blaster pistol which he wielded while exploring Lott Kemp's lot on Dodz. Also in Ellon's possession was a wide array of scavenged equipment, and an X-One defense robot that he had recovered from the vicinity of a crystal mine.
Jost Ellon's first and only appearance to date was in the first issue of the Marvel Comics Star Wars: Droids series, The Destroyer (1986), written by David Manak and penciled by John Romita Sr. The events of the comic and the character of Ellon were later referenced in Part 1 of "The Droids Re-Animated," (2013) a series of articles on the StarWars.com blog by Abel G. Peña and Rich Handley.