Lehesu

Lehesu was a male member of the Oswaft species, an obscure race of massive space-dwelling sentients that called the ThonBoka nebula home. Relatively young by 3 BBY, Lehesu—contrary to most members of his species—felt a desire to explore the galaxy beyond the ThonBoka, something that caused consternation among family and friends who warned him against leaving their sanctuary. Lehesu nevertheless took flight beyond the ThonBoka to explore the nearby Open Sea, only to find that the largely empty region of space was mostly devoid of the interstellar plankton and assorted space debris the Oswaft used as food. After some time without any nutrients, Lehesu found himself in a position where he had wandered too far to return to the ThonBoka safely. Estimating himself with just hours to go before he starved to death, Lehesu received salvation in the form of a passing starship, the Millennium Falcon. Although this marked the first known contact between an Oswaft and another sentient species, Lehesu managed to communicate with those on board the ship and express his need, and the Falcon responded by spacing a variety of junk from its hold that Lehesu fed on happily.

Over the next several days, Lehesu continued to communicate with the Millennium Falcon and the beings within, Human gambler Lando Calrissian and his droid Vuffi Raa. The contact further fed Lehesu's curiosity, and he set out even further to learn more of other civilizations. One of these stops was the planet Hosrel XI, where Lehesu accidentally destroyed three intercepting starfighters belonging to the local defense force. Surprised by the hostile reception, Lehesu simply jumped to hyperspace and moved on, only to receive a similar greeting at the next stop that resulted in 43 casualties. A puzzled Lehesu decided to return home, but his excursion had gained the attention of an Imperial fleet, whose sensors discerned Lehesu's natural ability to make hyperspace jumps and immediately saw the Oswaft as a threat. When Lehesu returned to the ThonBoka to share news of his great discoveries, Imperial forces followed him home and laid siege, aiming to starve the Oswaft to death. Lehesu sounded a distress call that found its way to the Millennium Falcon, and Calrissian and Vuffi Raa bluffed their way past the Imperial blockade to reach the ThonBoka and offer aid to their new friend.

Lehesu took his outsider friends to meet with two of the Oswaft Elders, Bhoggihalysahonues and Senwannus'gourkahipaff, using his knowledge of Basic to facilitate communication with the two parties as they planned the Oswaft's strategy. They soon determined that the situation was dire enough that the peaceful Oswaft would have to enter the fray themselves. Led by the two Elders, upwards of a million Oswaft went forth in force to confront the Imperial fleet, using their hyperspace jumping ability in a largely successful effort to confuse the blockading ships into firing on one another. Although Lehesu did not join this group, he too got involved in the fighting, destroying multiple Imperial starfighters threatening the Millennium Falcon. Lehesu then overheard a communication that the fleet's commander, Sorcerer of Tund Rokur Gepta, had sent to a courier ordering the man to kill a crewman's family if he disobeyed an order. Lehesu took off to intercept the message, destroying the ship carrying it. Although the larger force of Oswaft was wiped out at Gepta's hand, Lehesu and the bulk of his people survived due to Calrissian killing Gepta in single combat. Lehesu returned to a grateful Oswaft turning to him for leadership—although he refused the title of Elder, he expected to receive the honor anyway.

Unusually for Oswaft, Lehesu possessed a strong curiosity about the galaxy outside the ThonBoka, driving him to explore places Oswaft almost never tread. Extremely intelligent but often impatient—another very rare trait for an Oswaft—Lehesu chafed at what he saw as the stuffy traditions and boring culture of his people, setting out to sate his thirst for knowledge despite many warnings from friends and family. He thought little of the potential consequences, as customary of the Oswaft, Lehesu rarely grew frightened and never panicked. Lehesu's near-death in the Open Sea did not stem this curiosity. Rather, his encounter with other sentient lifeforms fueled it even further, prompting him to travel further than any Oswaft ever had before. However, his sheltered existence led to a naïveté ill-suited to the galaxy of the time.

Lehesu was a member of a peaceful species that could hardly conceive of a sentient willfully doing harm to another, even in self-defense, and the hostility that he and his species were met with confounded him. That reticence left him during the fight against the Imperials, in which Lehesu took lives in order to save his friends and his people. Lehesu was rather large for his age as of 3 BBY, and shared his species' affinity for deciphering languages and codes—Lehesu learned Galactic Basic mere hours after first encountering the Millennium Falcon, and cracked high-priority Imperial military communications without even trying.

Lehesu appeared in Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka, written by L. Neil Smith and released in 1983.

• The Essential Guide to Alien Species
• The New Essential Chronology
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• The Essential Reader's Companion