Plooz

Born to King Gokus, Prince Plooz resided in the Alzarian palace. At some point in the Imperial Period, one of his father's generals, Sludd, had the child taken from the palace and placed on a trade freighter, bound for the planet Sooma. Sludd, who was preparing to stage a coup d'état against Gokus and Sooma's King Zornog, planned to make it appear as though the Sooman monarch had kidnapped Plooz. The general predicted that Gokus would react by sending a fleet against Sooma and starting a war between his world and theirs. In the chaos, Sludd planned to claim both worlds for himself.

Upon arriving on Sooma, young Plooz made his way to into the Sooman palace, where he was met by King Zornog. The king kept the child by his side while communications were opened with Alzar. King Gokus was livid and began threatening the Sooman king. While he would not tolerate Gokus's bullying, Zornog insisted that Plooz had merely stowed away on a freighter, and that there was no kidnapping plot whatsoever. Gokus refused to accept Zornog's explanation, however, and demanded the return of Plooz within a day, or he would send his fleet to attack Sooma. Zornog had more immediate problems to deal with, as Plooz, hoping to play with the Sooman king, grasped the monarch's robes and began tugging, inadvertently throttling him.

Two diplomatic couriers, the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, who had recently arrived in the palace, were able to fend Plooz off. Grateful, Zornog gave the pair of droids his fastest starship, with which to ferry the young prince back to his father. While in transit, Plooz found his way into the ship's food synthesizer, where he began devouring giant Neuvian sundaes, much to C-3PO's chagrin. However, as the ship continued on its course towards Alzar, battleships under the command of General Sludd bore down on the Sooman craft in attack formation. Panicking, C-3PO hailed the vessels, warning them that he had the Alzarian prince on board. Plooz watched on in horror as Sludd's visage materialized on the ship's viewscreen and informed the occupants that they would soon perish under his guns.

As Sludd's craft swooped down on them, C-3PO had R2-D2 take evasive action and ordered him to prepare the craft's anti-matter system for hyperdrive. Plooz, overhearing the order, wanted to help and dashed for the anti-matter controls, tugging at the module's handles. In doing so, he disrupted the ship's anti-matter pods, preventing the proper use of the ship's hyperdrive. At the same time, Sludd's craft began firing electron torpedos, causing C-3PO to hastily order his counterpart to jump to hyperspace without the anti-matter system. The jump was made just before the torpedoes would have hit, placing Plooz, C-3PO and R2-D2 in relative safety.

As they made the unorthodox hyperspace jump, the ship's inhabitants were thrown about the cockpit. While they regained composure, C-3PO noted, with great shock, that there were no stars to be seen outside the ship, and the only thing visible was a bright, pink opening. As they flew through the opening, they could once again see stars, but R2-D2 pointed out that they had in fact traveled one hundred years into the future, and had created a time warp by causing an anti-matter overload upon jumping to hyperspace. Though the astromech droid's calculations were inaccurate, the trio were in fact in the Endor system, in the Moddell sector. Plooz wailed at the prospect and began pining for his native Alzar. He made a beeline for the ship's escape pod, but was swiftly restrained by C-3PO. As the protocol droid turned his attention away from the Alzarian prince to give R2-D2 instructions, however, the child dashed for the pod again, this time successfully entering and jettisoning it.

The pod entered the atmosphere of the Forest Moon of Endor, where it landed, abruptly, in a swamp near Bright Tree Village. A terrified Plooz emerged eventually, to the sight of a band of Ewoks. The chief of Bright Tree Village, Chirpa, had seen the pod make its fiery descent to Endor and had taken it as an omen. The village shaman, Logray, had read in his fortune stones that a blinding flash of light, much like the one generated by the pod's fall, would bring good fortune to the Ewoks. Upon seeing Plooz, Chirpa hailed the Alzarian as a "Star Child," who had been sent to Endor from the stars as a sign that the upcoming Chirpa-Gorneesh peace summit would be a success and would put an end to the Ewok–Dulok War.

Plooz, however, was less than enthusiastic and began crying loudly. He was pacified by Wicket W. Warrick, who offered him some honey. While consuming the Ewok victual, Plooz was picked up by Chirpa and taken back to Bright Tree Village, where he could be cared for by the settlement's inhabitants. As Chirpa and his Council of Elders prepared to depart for their meeting with King Gorneesh of the Duloks, Plooz hid away in a large honey pot, devouring the contents from within. He was eventually retrieved, bathed, and held aloft by Chirpa's entourage, as he was taken to the summit as a sign of peace.

The summit was held at a wooden bridge that crossed a deep chasm, with the two parties standing at opposite sides. Gorneesh summoned Chirpa, requesting that he cross the bridge and meet on the Dulok side. The chief did so, bringing Plooz along with him. Gorneesh concurred with Chirpa's description of the child as a good omen, but quickly snatched the child out of the Ewok's hands, declaring that Plooz was too good a sign to waste on the Ewoks. The Dulok king held the terrified Alzarian prince over the chasm, demanding that Chirpa and his retinue depart the now-failed summit immediately. Chirpa complied, but as he and his colleagues crossed back over the bridge, Umwak, Gorneesh's shaman, cut one of the suspension ropes.

At that moment, C-3PO, R2-D2, Warrick, and Chirpa's daughter, Princess Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka, approached the location of the summit, with the protocol droid demanding that Gorneesh unhand Plooz. The star Ibleam's rays reflected off C-3PO's surface, making him glow and giving him the appearance of what the Duloks perceived to be an Ewok demon. Gorneesh, terrified, departed with his henchman, leaving Plooz behind. While Chirpa and his Elders were able to make it off the heavily damaged bridge, Plooz attempted to cross by himself, much to the concern of his friends and guardians. R2-D2 produced a rope that Warrick tied to himself in an attempt to go out and retrieve Plooz, but the bridge's ropes snapped quickly, leaving the young Ewok with little choice but to jump down into the chasm after the Alzarian prince. Warrick caught Plooz mid-fall and brought him back up to the top of the cliff. Overjoyed, Plooz ran to C-3PO, embracing the droid in relief.

The Ewoks escorted C-3PO, R2-D2 and Plooz back to the Sooman craft and bade them farewell. The trio reentered the time warp with little time to spare, as it closed just as they made their way through it. They returned to their own time intact, and although their time-traveling journey had taken hours, they came back mere minutes after their departure relative to their time. As such, they were once again in danger of being destroyed by Sludd's fleet, but C-3PO took charge, ordering R2-D2 to hurry towards Alzar. Their ship was struck by Sludd's fire and forced to land just near the palace.

Plooz, instructed by C-3PO to bring his father to the ship, hurried through the corridors of the palace, eventually finding Gokus. He rushed back out to the droids, only to see them being held at gunpoint by Sludd himself. The Alzarian prince put himself in the line of fire by leaping onto C-3PO, while Gokus arrived and demanded an explanation from his general. None was needed, however, as R2-D2 played a recording of Sludd's earlier threat to kill Plooz and take over both Alzar and Sooma. Livid, Gokus had his general and his co-conspirators thrown in prison. Young Prince Plooz, however, could do little more than fall asleep.

The Alzarian Prince Plooz was a curious individual, constantly investigating technology and people. His curiosity would occasionally be detrimental, such as his inadvertent near-strangulation of King Zornog. Speaking in a fractured dialect, he displayed great affection for his father, as well as C-3PO and R2-D2. Plooz was also partial to sweet foods, like sundaes and honey. Despite his age, the prince was also eager to help, even when he was unable. Again, his enthusiasm would be more of a hindrance than a help, since his tinkering with the Sooman ship's anti-matter device would eventually lead to the creation of a time warp.

Plooz made his first appearance in David Manak's crossover between the Star Wars: Droids and the Ewoks comic series, which encompassed issues Droids (1986) 4 and Ewoks 10. The two issues revolve around Plooz and his various exploits in both time frames.

• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia