During the Clone Wars, Knotts worked a subcontractor for Republic Intelligence, operating under the supervision of Dodd Rancit. He was responsible for the secret transport of weapons and other useful materials to resistance groups, trained by station chief Berch Teller, that operated on worlds occupied by the enemy Confederacy of Independent Systems, including Antar 4. Like Teller, Knotts was horrified by the Galactic Empire's brutal "Antar Atrocity," which claimed the lives of many Koorivar and Gotal loyalists.
During the Imperial Era, Knotts joined a group of resistance fighters led by Teller, who was secretly assisted by Vice Admiral Rancit. After stealing Moff Wilhuff Tarkin's personal starship Carrion Spike, Teller and his followers raided several Imperial facilities in 14 BBY. Knott's involvement in Teller's campaign was uncovered by Tarkin following a major hyperspace accident in the Obroa-skai system, that had been instigated by Teller's insurgents to throw Tarkin and Darth Vader off their trail. Following the Battle near the Gulf of Tatooine, Knotts and several of Teller's followers were captured and quietly executed.
Knotts was a native of the Core Worlds who relocated to the Outer Rim world of Lantillies fifteen years before the Berch Teller campaign of 14 BBY. On Lantillies, Knotts established himself as a middle-man who brought clients in want of goods or services together with freelance spacers who could fulfill their needs. At some point, Knotts was married but subsequently divorced.
During the Clone Wars, Knotts worked as a subcontractor for Republic Intelligence and helped facilitate the covert transport of firearms and other materials to resistance groups including loyalist forces on the Inner Rim moon of Antar 4. Knotts was also acquainted with the Republic Intelligence station chief Berch Teller, who trained Gotal and Koorivar loyalists on Antar 4. Like Teller, Knotts was horrified by Moff Wilhuff Tarkin's brutal purge known as the Antar Atrocity, which claimed the lives of many loyalists.
During the early Imperial Era, Knotts became an ally of Berch Teller's nascent insurgent group, which consisted of survivors of the Antar Atrocity and other critics of the Empire such as the journalist Anora Fair and film-maker Hask Taff. In the years leading up to 14 BBY, Teller and his rebel comrades amassed various resources including proscribed armaments, former Separatist droid starfighters, warships, and communications jammers with the help of the Imperial Vice Admiral Dodd Rancit, a rival of Moff Tarkin. Despite the odds stacked against them, Teller hoped to inspire a rebellion against the Empire. Teller also reserved a special animus for Tarkin, the architect of the Antar Atrocity.
Following Teller's attack on Sentinel Base, Knotts helped to negotiate a deal between a lieutenant in the Crymorah Syndicate and the Sugi smuggler Faazah for a supply of custom fuel cells, which were shipped to the planet Murkhana shortly before Tarkin and Vader's visit to investigate a Separatist communications cache. This enabled Teller and his followers to hijack and steal Tarkin's stealth corvette Carrion Spike. The insurgents added these fuel cells to the ship's fuel supply, which lasted long enough for the insurgents to travel to Phindar in the Mandalore sector.
Knotts later helped Teller's insurgents to throw their Imperial pursuers off-scent. He hired a Koorivar captain and two Sy Myrthians to crew the freighter Reticent, which was carrying a cargo of Sephi flyers. Three years earlier, Knotts had loaned them credits to buy the Reticent. He sent them on a delivery run from Taris to Thustra and then Obroa-skai. Unknown to the hapless crew, they were to serve as decoy. In order to mislead their Imperial pursuers, Teller had transmitted fake coordinates purporting that the Carrion Spike was traveling to the Obroa-skai system.
Tarkin and Darth Vader assembled a sizeable Imperial force including three interdictor vessels to intercept the stolen Carrion Spike, which had attacked several Imperial facilities throughout the galaxy. However, the prototype Immobilizer 418 cruiser's gravity well projector malfunctioned, creating a massive hyperspace accident which claimed 1,100 lives and caused considerable damage. Despite the debacle, Tarkin and Vader managed to capture and interrogate the crew of the Reticent.
Under questioning, the Koorivar captain admitted that he had taken a job with Knotts. Though Vader's interrogation of the Reticents crew yielded little information, the Sith Lord subsequently learnt from one of his Crymorah informants that Knotts had facilitated negotiations between a Crymorah lieutenant and Faazah to obtain the fuel cells which Teller and his insurgents used to power the stolen Carrion Spike. Acting on this information, Tarkin uncovered more information about Knott's background and connections to the Antar Atrocity on the HoloNet database.
After Teller and his followers abandoned the Carrion Spike and sent the ship on a journey to the Colonies planet of Carida, they rejoined Knotts and the others aboard Berch Teller's warship, a heavily modified former Separatist Providence-class carrier-destroyer that served as the insurgent cell's flagship. Knotts helped to steer the hidden carrier-destroyer from its place of concealment near Lantillies. The insurgents traveled to a remote star system near the Gulf of Tatooine where they intended to ambush an Imperial convoy ferrying supplies along a chain of space stations that led to Geonosis, the site of the secret Death Star project.
Since Vice-Admiral Rancit had diverted considerable Imperial forces in response to Teller's insurgency, Knotts was confident that their insurgents would destroy the convoy. Unaware that Moff Tarkin and Lord Vader had discovered Rancit's treachery, Knotts and Teller believed that Rancit's credibility would be affected by their raid on the Imperial convoy. Knotts remarked that Rancit would be unhappy at being denied his expected promotion and would come hunting them down. Teller reassured Knotts that a successful raid would cause Rancit to be dismissed from his position at the Naval Intelligence Agency, eliminating the threat posed by the Vice-Admiral.
When the Mon Calamari starship engineer Dr. Artoz inquired about Tarkin, Knotts responded that he would get back what was left of his precious "corvette." When Knotts expressed concerned a vindictive Tarkin would pursue them, Teller suggested that the group scatter and flee to the Corporate Sector. Knotts then asked how far they would set the Empire back by destroying the convoy. Artoz responded that the Empire had been working on the hyperdrive components for three years before he was sent to Desolation Station. He believed that the attack would push the Imperials back by four years.
Teller speculated that the Empire was working on a weapons platform above Geonosis and asked if they needed to know more than that. Teller reassured him that once the galaxy got to know the Emperor as well as they knew him, their group would not be alone. Despite the odds stacked against them, Knotts and his comrades vowed to fight for the memory of Antar 4. Shortly later, the Koorivar Cala arrived with the news that the convoy had exited hyperspace. Before Teller departed on his starfighter, Knotts wished him all the best.
The insurgents attacked the convoy with their Providence carrier-destroyer, Nebulon-B frigate, multiple droid tri-fighters, and four starfighters. They managed to encircle the convoy ships and their escorts before swarming them with starfighters. Before the insurgents could wipe out the convoy, Tarkin arrived aboard the Imperial Star Destroyer Executrix and attacked the rebel ships. After dispatching starfighters and destroying the insurgents' Nebulon-B frigate, Tarkin disabled the insurgents' carrier-destroyer, preventing them from escaping.
Teller managed to flee into hyperspace with the help of Anora and the Gotal Salikk. Moff Tarkin then boarded the insurgents' flagship with stormtroopers. Knotts was among the 26 insurgents captured by Imperial forces. When Tarkin inspected his prisoners and greeted Knotts, the insurgent stared straight ahead and offered no reply. Tarkin then mockingly questioned Knotts about him and Teller betraying their former collaborator Rancit.
Following the defeat of Berch Teller's rebel cell, Knotts and his comrades were interrogated by Tarkin, Lord Vader, and Imperial Security Bureau specialists. Knotts and his fellow rebels and collaborators were then executed. Though the ISB advocated public executions, the Emperor rejected the idea in order to avoid turning Teller's followers into martyrs.
Knotts was a middle-aged human man with silver hair, rheumy eyes, and a deeply-lined face. According to Tarkin, he had a world-weary look associated with veteran soldiers who had experienced more than their share of tragedy. As an information broker and middle-man, Knotts had a reputation as a dispatcher and an agent who took what Tarkin regarded as a fair credit percentage on each transaction.
Knotts was sympathetic to the former Republic Intelligence officer–turned insurgent leader Berch Teller. He shared Teller's contempt for the Empire and antipathy towards Moff Tarkin. Like Teller and his other followers, Knotts regarded the Antar Atrocity as a war crime that had to avenged through rebellion and guerrilla attacks. Knotts maintained a defiant composure when captured by Tarkin.
In addition to his work as an information broker, Knotts also knew how to pilot capital ships such as Berch Teller's warship.
Knotts first appeared in James Luceno's 2014 canon novel Tarkin.