Orrin Gault was a moisture farmer who lived in the Pika Oasis on Tatooine. As a child, Gault suffered serious sunburns while exploring his home surroundings. To treat his injuries, Gault's parents wrapped the affected parts of his skin in bandages for several days. In his youth, Gault traveled to Rodia to obtain a second-hand vaporator. This marked his first and only offworld trip and convinced Gault that his home lay on Tatooine.
At some point in his life he married Liselle, and had three children: Mullen and the twins Varan and Veeka. His wife left him before 19 BBY. His son Varan was killed during an accident at the age of sixteen years.
Gault had a close professional and personal relationship with the particularly Dannar Calwell, who owned Dannar's Claim, a convenience store at Pika Oasis which also doubled as a bar and ranch for dewbacks. Dannar also ran a moisture vaporator business that produced a mysterious "sweet water formula." After Dannar died, Orrin maintained a cordial business relationship with his widow Annileen Calwell, who serviced his vehicles and profited from his sale of guns and rum. Orrin also had romantic feelings for Annileen and sought to marry her in order to get access to her financial assets and land.
For several years, Gault invested significant funds in purchasing several GX-9 Pretormin vaporators and attempted to figure out Dannar's sweet-water formula but proved unsuccessful. Due to his failed investment, he incurred significant debts from local banks, who refused to loan him anymore money. In response, Gault turned to the Hutt crime lord Jabba in order to procure loans to perfect his water formula. At first he thought he would be able to pay the money back as soon as he got a good harvest, but the day never came and Orrin turned to desperate measures. Exploiting the frequent Tusken Raider raids on local settlers, Gault established a vigilante group known as the Settlers' Call Fund, which used a network of alarm systems to alert settlers to fend off Tusken raids. The Fund was supported by annual membership subscriptions paid by settlers and farmers. In truth, the Settlers' Call was a protection racket with Orrin secretly embezzling money from the Fund to help pay off his debt.
While the Settlers Call Fund was initially successful, Tusken raids declined significant following the Jedi Anakin Skywalker's punitive massacre of a Tusken clan following the death of his mother Shmi Skywalker Lars. This development frightened the other Tusken clans including one led by A'Yark, a perennial opponent of Gault whom he nicknamed "Plug Eye." Due to a decline in Tusken attacks, Orrin lost subscribers for his Settlers' Call Fund, which delayed his loan repayments to Jabba. To reverse his declining fortunes, Orrin, his children Mullen and Veeka and farm hands staged several false flag attacks against settlers while disguised as Tuskens. The farm hand Lotho Pelhane was wounded during one such attack.
By the time of the Great Jedi Purge, Orrin's settlers had made nine retaliatory attacks against A'Yark's clan in response to nine Tusken raids during that season. In truth, A'Yark's clan had only raided four settler homes during that same period while Gault had staged the five remaining attacks. Unlike genuine Tusken attacks which were always deadly, Gault's attacks avoided killing targets but sought to frighten settlers into subscribing to his Settlers' Call. In public, Orrin cultivated the image of a strong community leader and businessman in order to hide his unscrupulous business activities and underworld connections.
In 19 BBY Gault along with his adult children Mullen, Veeka, and Annileen's son Jabe Calwell responded to a Tusken attack on the Bezzard farm. The Tuskens led by A'Yark had killed Lotho and a Bith farmhand, and also destroyed several droids. Gault and his posse arrived in landspeeders and killed several Tuskens with their blasters. However, A'Yark eluded Gault. Following the attack, Gault comforted the distraught Tyla Bezzard, who was mourning her father Lotho's death, and also confirmed Plug Eye's presence during the raid. He also thanked the Bezzards for installing the Settler's Call's alarm system. Since the Bezzards were too terrified to remain on their farm, he made arrangements for Annileen Calwell to accommodate them. Orrin also chastised Veeka and Jabe for helping themselves to alcohol following the raid.
The following day, Gault returned to Pika Outpost where he received a hero's welcome from the local residents. He took the opportunity to promote his Settlers' Call Fund. While Jabe was proud that he took part in the defense of the Bezzard farm, his mother Annileen was angry that her son abandoned his chores and put himself in harm's way. She confronted Gault and threatened to deny parking, catering, and weapons services if he took her son on another one of his posses. During the confrontation, Annileen raised a captured gaderffii stick at Gault. When Gault grabbed the weapon, Annileen released her grip, causing Orrin to smash his landspeeder's windshield with his gaderffii stick.
Due to his longstanding relationship and feelings for Annileen, the two made amends with Annileen agreeing to host the Bezzards while Gault agreed to cover the costs of his damaged landspeeder and drinks for his posse. In private, Gault resolved to win over Jabe, knowing that the teenager regarded him as a father figure and chafed under the restrictions of his mother.
After the enigmatic outsider "Ben" Kenobi rescued Annileen and her teenage daughter Kallie Calwell from a rogue dewback, Gault took an interest in "Ben" whom he regarded as a prospective customer for his Settlers' Call Fund. Kenobi later visited Pika Oasis during a Jawa auction in order to purchase feed for his eopie Rooh.
During that visit, Mullen and Veeka along with a farmhand named Zedd Grobbo harried Kenobi for being an outsider. When Kenobi rejected Veeka's flirtation attempt, Zedd tried to assault Kenobi. Due to their antagonistic relationship, Kallie charged at Veeka with a bantha prod, prompting Annileen to restrain her daughter. Though the bantha prod flew out of Kallie's hand and hurtled towards Veeka and Kenobi, the Jedi fugitive was able to use his Force-enhanced reflexes to avoid the object. The bantha prod instead landed in Kenobi's metal shopping tub, which was being held by Mullen. Mullen was electrocuted but survived. Zedd then charged at Kenobi but the older man dodged out of his way.
Veeka later informed Gault about the altercation via comlink. Gault was furious with his children and Zedd for misbehaving. To maintain good relations with Annileen, he ordered them to clean up the store, apologize to Annie, and finish their shift. While driving with the wealthy farmer in his USV-5 Modified Landspeeder, Gault tried to convince the moisture farmer to subscribe to his Settlers' Call Fund. However, Ulbreck was content with his own security arrangements and declined Gault's offer.
After dropping Ulbreck back at his farm, Gault encountered Kenobi and offered him a ride. During the journey, Gault took the opportunity to showcase his moisture vaporators, which he claimed would bring prosperity to his community. Gault also recounted stories about the deaths of Annileen's husband Dannar and Cliegg Lars' wife Shmi at the hands of the Tuskens. He exploited the Tusken threat as a means of selling his Settlers' Call Fund as a defense against Tusken incursions. After reaching his dwelling, Kenobi stated that he would consider Gault's offer but privately regarded Gault as a salesman. Shortly later, Mullen and Veeka arrived in their Selanikio Sportster landspeeder. The Gaults then departed.
Later, Gault along with his children and Jabe attended the Comet Run race. Following the race, the group returned to Dannar's Claim. A drunk Veeka crashed her Sportster speeder into Annileen's X-31 landspeeder. At the time of the accident, Jabe was a passenger in Veeka's vehicle. When Gault arrived in his speeder, a furious Annileen chastised him for endangering her son again. Gault defended the Comet Run trip as a rite of passage for Jabe. The group were then joined by Kenobi and several Devaronian business proprietors from Mos Eisley who had come to meet with Gault regarding his Settlers' Call alarm system.
Before the meeting could take place, several Tusken Raiders led by A'Yark raided Dannar's Claim in an attempt to kidnap Annileen, whom them believed to be Force-sensitive Airshaper. Gault and his fellow settlers fought back against the Tusken Raiders, killing several with their blasters. During the fighting, the Tuskens seriously wounded the Rodian customer Bohmer and the farmhand Zedd while a Devaronian executive named Jervett was killed. Gault also recognized "Plug-Eye" but failed to kill or capture her. Before the Tuskens could capture her, Annileen managed to activate the remote activator that activated the Settler's Call, which threw the Tuskens into panic. Unable to control her band, A'Yark ordered the Tusken Raiders to retreat.
Following the Tusken retreat, Gault tried to reassure his terrified Devaronian investors that his Settlers' Call system worked. However, the Devaronians believed the Gault farms were unsaved and were further outraged by Jervett's death. In addition, Ulbreck questioned the effectiveness of Gault's Settlers' Call alarm system and demanded a refund. After receiving intelligence from a Skyhopper that the fleeing Tusken Raiders were heading towards , Gault decided to exact revenge and assembled his posse including Jabe for a punitive attack.
The fleeing Tuskens entered the Hanter's Gorge but were unable to reach their camp in the Pillars due to a canyon. Gault and his posse blocked the Tuskens' escape route from behind while other settlers including Jabe and Veeka took up position in the escarpment above the gorge and opened fire on Tuskens. Ultimately, 48 Tuskens including A'Yark's son A'Deen were killed during the Comet Run Day Battle. Gault regarded the massacre as retribution for earlier Tusken attacks that claimed the lives of his son Varan Gault, Dannar Calwell, and Shmi.
Despite Gault's victory, he failed to kill or capture A'Yark. A'Yark and seven of her warriors managed to escape through the western side of the gorge with the help of Kenobi and Annileen. While searching for Jabe, the two had witnessed the Comet Run Battle from the western side of the gorge. Despite her deep antipathy towards the Tuskens stemming from the death of her husband Dannar, she was horrified by Gault's one-sided massacre of his Tusken foes. Kenobi also convinced A'Yark that he and Annileen were not responsible for A'Deen's death. He also revealed that Annileen was not a Force shapter but that he had used his Force powers to save Annileen earlier. As a result of this encounter, A'Yark reached an understanding with Kenobi and Annileen.
The following day, Gault used the events of the Comet Run Battle to promote his Settlers' Call Fund and managed to recruit eight new subscribers. While visiting Pika Oasis to pick up his eopie Rooh, Kenobi asked Gault for a quote on how much it would case for the Fund to protect the Lars homestead. Due to the Lars homestead's distant location from Pika Oasis, Gault estimated that this would cost 1,900 credits a year alongside setting up weapons caches and patrols.
Before Kenobi can respond, Pika Oasis was visited by Jabba's Gossam gang enforcer Bojo Boopa and his two Gamorrean guards. Gault withdrew to his private office within Dannar's Claim to meet with Boopa, who had come to remind him that he still owed a debt of 56,000 credits to Jabba. To maintain his public image as a respected community leader, Gault put up a facade and ordered the criminals to leave the oasis. In response, Boopa warned Gault that his "little kingdom" was a dust mote in Jabba's eyes. Gault subsequently claimed that Boopa was trying to extort protection money but was deterred by the Settlers' Call militia.
Following Boopa's visit, Kenobi declined to subscribe to Gault's Settlers' Call. This prompted Orrin to issue a veiled threat blaming Kenobi for the recent troubles. Annileen was upset with Orrin's treatment of her new-found friend but was unable to stop Kenobi from leaving the settlement.
Despite his jubilant and respectable facade, Gault was dealing with rising debts and the failure of his Pretormin vaporators to replicate Dannar's sweet water formula. Later, Orrin attempted to convince Ulbreck to subscribe to his Settlers' Call Fund. When the fiercely independent farmer rejected Gault's offer, he decided to proceed with his "backup plan" which involved marrying Annileen in order to acquire her assets including her land, money, and the Dannar's Claim convenience store.
With Annileen's 37th birthday approaching, Gault put his plan into action. First, he spent thousands of credits in buying a new SoroSuub JG-8 luxury landspeeder from Mos Eisley's Delroix Speeders as a birthday gift for Calwell. Gault then invited Annileen and her children Kallie and Jabe on a one-day holiday trip to Mos Eisley in order to pick up the speeder. Due to their longstanding friendship, the Calwells accepted his birthday gift and departed for Mos Eisley. In private, Annileen rightfully suspected that Gault was showering her with gifts because he wanted something from her.
In Annileen's absence, Gault met with the Shistavanen business owner Tar Lup at Dannar's Claim. He also entered Annilee's office and copied her financial records. Based on this information, Gault calculated that he would be able to pay off his debt to Jabba using his and Annileen's combined assets. Orrin then visited the local branch of the with Veeka and Mullen to discuss merging his and Annileen's assets through marriage. He then arranged to meet with Boopa at Mos Eisley's Docking Bay 87.
Boopa and his Gamorrean bodyguards forced Gault to drive to the Mos Eisley Inn, which served as the base for Jabba's Nimbanel manager Mosep Binneed and his cousin Lhojugg. Binneed reminded Gault about his debt to Jabba and chastised him for delaying his three previous payments. Gault emphasized his efforts to repay the debt and claimed that his new moisture vaporator investment would help him reach that goal. Dissatisfied with Gault's progress, Binneed demanded that Gault double his usual pament the following day in order to meet the full balance within two weeks. As a warning and punishment for his tardiness in repaying his loan, Binneed ordered his henchmen to teach Gault a lesson by electrocuting him inside a metal cage.
Despite Gault's attempts to keep a low profile, his presence in Mos Eisley drew the attention of the Calwells and their friend Kenobi. After their new luxury speeder broke down in the streets of Mos Eisley, Annileen along with Jabe and Kenobi witnessed Gault entering the Mos Eisley Inn with several gangsters. Believing that Gault was in danger, Kenobi infiltrated the building to rescue the businessman while the others waited outside.
Gault managed to break free of his captors at the same time that Kenobi entered the inn. During the ensuing gun battle, Kenobi and Gault managed to dodge the criminals. Kenobi used his Force powers and combat skills to gain the advantage over the gangsters, killing four of Jabba's henchmen and releasing several winged Kayven whistlers, which wrecked havoc inside the hotel's storeroom before escaping. Following the skirmish, Binneed reluctantly agreed to give Orrin more time to settle his debts with Jabba.
After exiting the hotel, Gault told the Calwells that a business deal had gone wrong and that he had received several credi chips from his client as travel compensation. Gault then took the opportunity to make a marriage proposal to Annileen, emphasizing that they have spent years together managing their business holdings in the Pika Oasis. In response, Annileen said that she needed time to reconsider Gault's proposal.
After retreating to Mullen and Veeka's townhouse, Gault decided to proceed with "Plan Two," which involved raiding the Ulbrecks' farm in order to scare them into subscribing to the Settlers' Call Fund. With Zedd experiencing painkiller addiction, Gault decided to recruit Jabe for his plan under the pretext of giving him a ride back to the oasis. Since Jabe looked up to Gault as a father figure, he managed to convince Annileen to let him give her son a ride home under the pretext that his cook droid would feed Jabe dinner before dropping him back at the Calwell home.
Gault convinced Jabe to participate in a false flag attack on the Ulbrecks' farm by telling him they would only scare the Ulbrecks and not kill them. Later that night, the Gaults and Jabe raided the Ulbrecks' farm while disguised as Tusken Raiders. Catching the Ulbrecks by surprised, Veeka struck Wyle with a rifle while Gault threatened Wyle's wife Magda Ulbreck with a knife. Before the fake Tuskens could further harm the Ulbrecks, they were ambushed by Kenobi. Kenobi used his Force powers to gain the upper hand over the raiders. During the struggle, Gault attempted to shoot Kenobi but the Jedi fugitive unmasked him with a gadeffi stick. With his cover exposed, Gault ordered a retreat. Though the Gaults manage to escape on their speeder bikes, Jabe was captured by several Tusken Raiders led by A'Yark, who was angered by Gault's false flag attacks.
After midnight, Gault visited an anxious Annileen, who was worried about Jabe's well-being. During the visit, Gault told Calwell about his financial troubles arising from his failed Ptertormin moisture vaporator investment particularly his 56,000 credits debt to Jabba. Gault also confessed to illegally copying Annileen's financial records and admitted that his marriage proposal was part of his plan to settle his debts with Jabba. Annileen was angered by his duplicity and dealings with criminals, and ordered him to leave her home. In desperation, Gault proposed marrying her teenage daughter Kallie, prompting Annileen to punch him in the jaw. The two fought ang Gault gained the upper hand. However, Kallie forced him to leave at gunpoint.
At that point, Gault claimed that Jabe had been killed by the Tusken chief "Plug-eye" during a Tusken attack on his farm. A furious and grieving Annileen refused to believe her son had died and demanded that Gault activate the Settlers' Call in order to recover her son's remains. Annileen also revealed that "Plug-eye" was a woman. Gault attempted to coerce Annileen into signing ownership of Dannar's Claim in return for activating the Settlers' Call. However, Kenobi managed to negotiate Jabe's freedom and returned with the young man. After Jabe revealed that Gault had lied about the circumstances of his capture by the Tuskens, Annileen ordered Gault to leave. Before leaving, Gault warned that he was still determined to acquire her land and assets to settle his debts to Jabba.
Following Gault's departure, Jabe and Kenobi separately briefed Annileen about Gault's false flag Tusken attacks on farms and his embezzlement of money from the Settlers' Call to repay his debts to Jabba. Kenobi also convinced Annileen to help him put a stop to Gault's schemes once and for all.
The following morning, Gault convinced Wyle Ulbreck to subscribe to his Settlers' Call Fund. Ulbreck was unaware of Gault's role in the false flag attack, which was attributed to the Tusken Raiders. Gault was pleased since Ulbreck's subscription covered a large proportion of his debt, which he believed would allow him to pay Jabba without using Annileen's assets. In response to the alleged Tusken attack on Ulbreck's farm, Orrin activated the Settlers' Call, which attracted a large crowd of farmers and farm hands. In an attempt to prevent Kenobi from exposing his false flag attacks, Orrin falsely accused Kenobi of colluding with the Tuskens and rallied the vigilantes for a manhunt against the so-called "traitor".
Gault led his posse towards Kenobi's hut, seeking to capture the fugitive. On the way, Gault and his children spotted Kenobi riding his speeder bike across the desert towards Hanter's Gorge. Gault and his posse pursued Kenobi but the fugitive Jedi managed to flee into the gorge. Believing Kenobi was trapped, Gault ordered his posse to surround the gorge and set up smoke charges. However, Kenobi had lured them into a trap and unleashed a herd of banthas on his pursuers. The pursuing settlers and their vehicles were scattered during the ensuing stampede. While Gault and Veeka were unhurt, his son Mullen suffered a gash to his head caused by a bantha horn.
Following the stampede, Kenobi sent one of Gault's speeder bike with a burlap duffel shaped like a humanoid figure down the gorge. The burlap duffle was stuffed with several Tusken clothing that Kenobi had obtained from Gault's home. Several vigilantes shot down the speeder bike and discovered the burlap duffel upon inspecting the vehicle and its "rider." From his hiding place in the Tusken camp in the Pillars, Kenobi used Gault's stolen loudhailer to expose Orrin's deception to the settlers. When confronted by the other settlers including Ulbreck, Gault admitted keeping Tusken clothing as garments but defended the work of the Settlers' Call Fund. In response, Kenobi revealed that Gault had been embezzling from the fund to pay his debts to Jabba and had staged false flag attacks against Tyla Bezzard's father and the Ulbrecks.
Gault attempted to defend himself but was interrupted by Mosep, who had come to collect Jabba's debts. While Gault was rallying the settlers to hunt down Kenobi, Annileen had secretly contacted Mosep and claimed that he was mustering a militia to resist Jabba's debt collectors. The settlers were further incensed to learn about Gault's dealings with Jabba. Believing that Gault was reneging on his debt repayment, Mosep rescinded the afternoon deadline and ordered Gault to pay up immediately. Annileen also exposed Gault's unscrupulous activities to the settlers, who demanded justice.
When Mosep reiterated that he was here to settle Gault's debts with Jabba, Wyles shot Mosep's Klatooinian bodyguard Jorrk dead. Wyles then asserted that the settlers had first right to exact retribution against Gault. This sparked a gunfight between the settlers and Jabba's enforcers. The Gaults took advantage of the chaos to kidnap Annileen and escape on their JG-8 landspeeder.
While evacuating the Tusken high camp in the Pillars, Kenobi and A'Yark witnessed the Gaults driving past in their landspeeder with the captive Annileen. Following a discussion, the Jedi and Tusken Raider resolved to defeat Gault once and for all. After reacting the Tusken camp, Gault and his children continued their hunt for Kenobi and killed a massif. While attempting to throw the animal's carcass down a well, Kenobi harried them from his hiding place. Still seeking to give Gault a chance to make amends, he warned the farmer to turned back but Gault was determined to hunt and kill Kenobi.
Seeking to flush Kenobi out of hiding, Gault fired his blaster randomly. Kenobi then ambushed Gault in the rock pillars, which triggered a rockfall. Gault sustained a broken left leg from the falling rocks and debris but was determined to settler scores with Kenobi. Kenobi warned Gault a second time to turn back and redeem himself but Gault was unwilling to lose everything due to the exposure of his protection racket.
Meanwhile, Annileen fought her captors Veeka and Mullen. She was aided by A'Yark, who wounded Veeka with her gaderffii stick. She also killed Mullen in order to avenge the Gaults' killing of her people including her late son A'Deen. Kenobi and Orrin's fight awakened a canyon krayt dragon, which rampaged through the Pillars. While Anileen helped A'Yark to evacuate her children and clan, Kenobi used his Force powers to save a Tusken child from being crushed by a rock.
Gault witnessed Kenobi fighting the krayt dragon, which attempt to crush him with its massive barbed tail. When the creature charged at Gault and the Tusken child, Kenobi jumped onto the dragon. He then uses his lightsaber to pierce through the krayt dragon's head and brain, killing the beast. Realizing that Kenobi was a Jedi, Gault threatened to report him to the Empire; this being his last card to play due to his desperate situation with the settlers, the Tuskens, and Jabba. Gault was overcome by grief after discovering his fallen son Mullen and vowed vengeance against Kenobi. Undaunted by Gault's threats, Kenobi responded that he had glimpsed into Gault's future and saw that the man did not have long to live.
After returning to his landspeeder, Gault attempted to avenge Mullen's death by ramming A'Yark with his landspeeder. However, A'Yark smashed his windshield with her gaderffii stick, blinding him. Missing the narrow bantha path that led down the side of the cliff, Gault's speeder slid off the cliff into the Tusken badlands. A'Yark managed to cling on to a jutting rock and was pulled to safety by Kenobi and Annileen. While A'Yark was disappointed that she did not get to exact vengeance against the ringleader Gault, she thanked Kenobi for keeping his promise before allowing the Jedi to leave with Annileen.
While many of his former settler compatriots believed that Gault had perished, the farmer survived his landspeeder crash but was suffered serious burns and spinal cord injuries that rendered him paralysed from the waist. After awakening, Gault found that he had been taken captive by A'Yark's clan. The Tuskens had tended to his burns and wrapped him with bandages and a breathing mask in accordance with their customs.
A'Yark informed Gault that he was a now captive. In return for being fed, he was tasked with operating the clan's captured moisture vaporator. Knowing that he did not have long to live due to his injuries, Gault submitted to A'Yark. Unable to deal with the humiliation of becoming a Tusken, he resolved never to speak again. Using the stolen moisture vaporiser, A'Yark's clan were able to get better access to water and improve their health and wellbeing. Emboldened, A'Yark and her clan staged attacks against Jawas in the Western Dune Sea.
Following the exposure of Gault's embezzlement and the rout of Jabba's enforcers, the settlers interrogated Gault's daughter Veeka and his farm hand Zedd. While the two confessed to their knowledge of Gault's protection racket and involvement in false flag attacks, Veeka took the opportunity to incriminate the Calwells. She claimed that Jabe participated in several false flag raids and that Annileen was not only aware of Gault's activities but also profited from the sales of guns and alcohol. Veeka and Zedd's allegations destroyed Annileen's reputation and led local settlers to boycott her business. After selling Dannar's Claim to her former employees, Annileen and her children emigrated offworld after Kenobi secured her a place at the University of Alderaan.
Orrin Gault was a human man with graying black hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. He was a cosmopolitan who liked any being who was willing to put their back into hard work. As a settler on the desert world of Tatooine, Gault hated the indigenous Tusken Raiders due to their frequent raids on settlers and prospectors. As with many settlers, he regarded them as vermin deserving only of death.
Gault married Lisselle and the couple produced three children: his eldest son Mullen and the twins Varan and Veeka Gault. Gault and Lisselle subsequently divorced, which adversely affected Gault's finances. Varan later died in an accident at the age of 16 years. Orrin was disappointed with his two surviving adult children. He regarded Mullen as immature and someone who was better at aggravating people than leading them. Gault also regarded Veeka as a reckless alcoholic who was dangerous behind the wheel.
Despite cultivating the image of a successful business and community leader, Gault was heavily in debt to Jabba the Hutt and embezzled money from his protection racket disguised as a subscription based response system called the Settler's Call; which was intended to mobilize farmers into a temporary militia. Gault used this as a front to incite attacks against the Tuskens in order to sell weapons, supplies and more subscriptions in order to pay back his debts.
Orrin Gault served as the main antagonist for John Jackson Miller's 2013 novel Kenobi.