Rajah Ubooki

A short, stocky male of the Bimm species, Rajah Ubooki belonged to a litter of many brothers, eighteen of which owned and operated the series of shops known as Glah Ubooki's Strange & Wondrous Imports under the collective alias "Glah Ubooki." Rajah himself was a thespian and con artist who served as an agent of Imperial Intelligence during the Galactic Civil War. In 4 ABY, members of the secretive, Imperial-aligned Prophets of the Dark Side, led by their Supreme Prophet, Kadann, on Coruscant, predicted that Galactic Emperor Palpatine would be defeated by his nemesis Luke Skywalker during the impending Battle of Endor. Enraged at such a negative prophecy, Palpatine decided he no longer required the services of Kadann and his disciples. The Prophets fled to Dromund Kaas but were tracked down by legions of Imperial Inquisitors, who slew many of them. Palpatine believed that all of the Prophets had been killed, but in truth, a number of them, including Kadann, had gone into hiding on remote Bosthirda. Their prophecy ultimately came to pass: Palpatine was killed at Endor and an Empire devoid of leadership fell into disarray.

Several months later, in 5 ABY, a number of Imperials who held power on Coruscant devised a scheme to keep their subjects loyal and content. Under Palpatine, religion had been almost entirely outlawed, so acting-Emperor Sate Pestage ordered the creation of a new religion to which he hoped the masses would flock. He commissioned former Director of Imperial Intelligence Cronal—once a Prophet of the Dark Side himself—to found the Church of the Dark Side, which the Empire claimed was led by the restored Prophets of the Dark Side. The plot was also intended to help certain Imperial Moffs retain power. A number of Imperial Intelligencers were drafted into the scheme to impersonate high profile Prophets, and Ubooki was assigned to masquerade as Supreme Prophet Kadann, while his Null comrade Heingort Giddis acted as High Prophet Jedgar. The Church of the Dark Side was very successful, and its members were idolized by both Imperial citizens and members of the Imperial Military and other institutions. The "false Kadann," as he became known by those who were aware of his true identity, lacked the Force-sensitivity of the actual Prophets, but made a number of "prophecies" anyway, relying on a far-reaching network of spies and informants to provide him with information which he could use to make educated guesses. When these guesses proved incorrect, the Prophets relied on other, mundane means to make them come true. They were unscrupulous in these endeavors and were content to resort to murder, bribery, or any number of crimes to uphold their fraudulent reputation.

Eventually, however, the phony Prophets grew dissatisfied with following orders and decided to form their own Imperial faction, answering to no higher authority. The devotion shown to them by their Imperial subjects meant that they had great support. Kadann established his headquarters at Space Station Scardia, located in the Null Zone in the Mid Rim. The region was very remote and suffered from heavy radiation, so few beings ventured into the Prophets' territory. Kadann took with him huge amounts of expensive artwork and stolen valuables, turning much of the space station into his own personal museum. While the majority of Imperials remained loyal to Ysanne Isard, who had taken the reigns of the Empire after Sate Pestage, Kadann's network of spies was loyal only to him; that, combined with the reverence most religious Imperials held for the Church of the Dark Side, made he and his cohorts powerful individuals.

Kadann took to wearing the true Supreme Prophet's hallmark sparkling black regalia and using trance-inducing tree bark from Endor, as well as colored chalk powder, to make himself appear mystical and clairvoyant. He also adorned himself with a number of lofty titles, such as "Dreamer of Dark Dreams, Supreme Prophet of the Empire." After spending some time attracting the attention of Imperial warlords and the fledgling New Republic, Kadann made his first major prophecy since leaving Imperial Center: he "foretold" that the rightful heir to Palpatine's Empire would find and wear the Glove of Darth Vader, an almost indestructible gauntlet that had supposedly survived the destruction of the second Death Star at Endor. Many Imperial warlords, desperate to gain Kadann's "dark blessing" and become Emperor, scrambled to locate the glove, with little initial success. The newly founded Central Committee of Grand Moffs was hailing Trioculus as the rightful heir to the Empire, because he was, they claimed, Palpatine's son. While many accepted his claim for the throne and flocked to his banner, others refused to stand by anyone who did not have Kadann's blessing. Thus, they searched for the glove and eventually located it, on Mon Calamari. Trioculus' right-hand-man and effectively the power behind his would-be throne, Grand Moff Bertroff Hissa, arranged to meet with the Prophets at Scardia Station, though Kadann had little respect for Trioculus; like the false Prophet, he was a fraud.

Kadann had his agents research Trioculus, and they found that he was not who he claimed to be: while Palpatine had fathered a three-eyed son, albeit unconventionally, his third eye was located at the back on his head, while Trioculus' was on his forehead. Kadann's spies learned that the true son of Palpatine, Triclops, had been killed because he suffered from insanity. Trioculus, Bertroff Hissa, and some of their personnel arrived at Scardia Station to meet with the Prophets. Kadann met them in the Chamber of Dark Visions and greeted Trioculus, but he was disrespectful toward the former slavelord, accusing him of lying about his ancestry and murdering Palpatine's true son, over whom he had authority while overseeing slave operations in the Spice Mines of Kessel. Trioculus denied murdering Triclops, and Hissa explained that Palpatine's son had been secretly banished to a secure facility on the planet Duro. The Grand Moff informed Kadann that the Central Committee deemed Triclops too unstable to rule the Empire, but that Trioculus would be a suitable figurehead to whom many would ally themselves, and who could keep the Empire in one piece. Kadann was satisfied with his reasoning, and gave Trioculus his dark blessing—as well as another apocryphal prophecy. He told the former slavelord that there was a prophecy of a Jedi Prince from the Lost City of the Jedi on Yavin 4, who could challenge and topple he who donned Vader's gauntlet.

Trioculus went to Yavin 4 and razed the moon in his search for the Lost City of the Jedi, but, with the help of Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker and the New Republic, the Jedi Prince—known only as Ken—escaped, and Trioculus was unable to locate the Lost City. Around this time, Trioculus stopped wearing the Glove of Darth Vader because it was deteriorating his health, donning a replica gauntlet instead. Kadann's spies learned of this, and Prophet Jedgar quickly fetched the true glove for his master, who kept it amongst his art collection. Trioculus and Hissa put great effort into capturing Ken, ultimately apprehending him at Cloud City, Bespin; however, Trioculus himself fell into a trap set by crime lord Zorba Desilijic Tiure. The self-proclaimed Emperor was imprisoned in carbonite, and Ken escaped into the custody of the New Republic. By this point, however, Kadann had no intention of continuing to co-operate with the Central Committee; he wanted power for himself, intending to launch a coup d'état and usurp Trioculus' rule.

Kadann gathered all of his fellow ersatz Prophets to make another prophecy, telling them what their futures held in store, even though all present knew it was spurious. In front of his followers in the Chamber of Dark Visions, he recanted his blessing of Trioculus and his support for the Central Committee, proclaiming that the "Dark One" of ancient times would succeed Trioculus, but that he would communicate to the physical world through Kadann; for all intents and purposes, the false Prophet had proclaimed himself Emperor. Like Trioculus' reign, however, it was not legitimate; Ysanne Isard was the official head of the Empire at that time, but Kadann was still held in great reverence by a portion of the Imperial populace, who supported him steadfastly. In addition to large numbers of ground forces, he commanded many Star Destroyers. He ordered his excited "disciples" to retrieve ancient relics from the planet Duro; when the relics were placed at the feet, he promised to destroy the light side of the Force. He also made another grandiose, false prophecy that when a being "pierced by gold" visited Mount Yoda on the planet Dagobah, the New Republic would begin to crumble. Kadann's underlings quickly spread his message to those who had pledged loyalty to Trioculus, until each Imperial faction and the New Republic knew of his coup.

Trioculus' frozen body was being kept by Zorba Desilijic Tiure in Cloud City, so Kadann dispatched his Null accomplice, "Jedgar," to retrieve it in the Prophets' personal ship, the Scardia Voyager. As Jedgar reached Bespin, the Central Committee members were launching a rescue operation of their own and had already stolen the carbonite slab from Zorba. The false prophets boarded Grand Moff Hissa's Moffship and Jedgar informed the Moffs of Kadann's coup. He decreed that their lives would be spared if they pledged allegiance to Emperor Kadann; when Hissa refused, Jedgar blackmailed with him sensitive information compiled by Kadann's spies that would identify Hissa as an Imperial traitor, and the Grand Moff eventually relented and accepted Kadann's rule. Jedgar transferred Trioculus' body onto the Scardia Voyager and returned to Kadann's headquarters. With fellow false Prophet Gornash, Kadann had the carbonite slab destroyed, wiping away any trace of Trioculus. Gornash suspected that it might not have been Trioculus they destroyed because Vader's supposedly-indestructible glove would have survived, but when Kadann showed him the true glove in his collection, Gornash's doubts were alleviated. Kadann was adamant that he had not made a mistake and destroyed a fake, but in actuality he was wrong: Zorba had outwitted everyone, publicly displaying the replica carbonite slab that Kadann had just destroyed, while the true Trioculus remained aboard his ship, the Zorba Express.

While Kadann believed he was destroying all trace of Trioculus, Jedgar went to Duro to retrieve the planet's treasures. His attempt was botched, however, after an encounter with the New Republic, which received assistance from Ken and Triclops, Palpatine's true son, who had escaped the penal facility and allied with the New Republic. After a large amount of toxic fluid threatened to wipe out Jedgar's forces, he fled the planet, empty-handed. With his newfound power, Kadann wanted to implement some changes to how his empire was run: he wished to reduce the power of any groups, such as the Grand Moffs, which could threaten him. Fearful of this, the Central Committee went rogue and abandoned the Empire. Kadann sent a large force to locate and apprehend them, but it was initially unsuccessful. The Moffs chanced upon Zorba Desilijic Tiure over Tatooine and found Trioculus' real body in his ship. They disposed of Zorba and revived the former slavelord but he was soon assassinated by the New Republic.

Meanwhile, Kadann made yet another fraudulent prophecy, claiming that when Luke Skywalker was imprisoned in Scardia Station, Ken would betray the location of the Lost City to the Prophets. The former Imperial Intelligence agents were later paid a visit by Zorba, who had survived the Moffs' attempts to feed him to Tatooine's sarlacc. Zorba informed them he had vital information on the activities of the Central Committee, but he knew nothing Kadann was not already aware of. The false Supreme Prophet hoped that Zorba might know about the Lost City of the Jedi; he was desperate to locate it so that he could access its main computer library, which contained much hidden knowledge of the Jedi that Kadann could use against his foes, but Zorba had no information. However, the Hutt proved useful in that he recorded a statement declaring the Grand Moffs traitors, giving consent for it to be used as evidence against them in their trial. Eventually, Kadann's forces apprehended Hissa and his accomplices, and immediately held a sham trial—the jury members were all Prophets of the Dark Side, with Kadann serving as the judge and Defeen, a Defel interrogation and torture expert, as the chief prosecutor.

Grand Moffs Hissa, Muzzer, Dunhausen, and Thistleborn were taken to the Chamber of Dark Justice for the trial. Kadann made a secret prophecy as to the outcome of the trial, showing it to the jurors but telling them not to let it affect their final verdict. Zorba's evidence was shown, and the Grand Moffs were accused of treason and disloyalty. Muzzer, Dunhausen, and Thistleborn pleaded guilty, but Hissa refused to, claiming that for service to the Prophets on Duro he should be hailed as a hero. The jury disagreed; they found all the Grand Moffs guilty, but decreed that Hissa, as the Central Committee's leader, should be punished more harshly than the others. Kadann sentenced each of the traitors, Thistleborn to three years' hard labor on scorching Bnach; Dunhausen to four years in prison on icy Hoth; Muzzer to five years serving as the sentry of the planet Arzid, home to deadly macaab mushrooms, tentacle-bushes, and arachnors; and Hissa to a slow and painful death.

As the trial drew to a close, Prophet Gornash entered the chamber to inform Kadann of a breakthrough in the search for the location of the Lost City of the Jedi. Triclops, Palpatine's son, had become an ally of the New Republic, and was unwittingly sending information back to Kadann due to a hidden recording and transmitting system implanted in his skull. The latest transmission had given exact details and co-ordinates as to the Lost City's entrance and was presented to Kadann by his subordinate. The faux Supreme Prophet was suspicious about the information, though, believing it had reached him too easily. His suspicions were correct; Triclops was working in collusion with the New Republic to provide Kadann with misinformation, but the Bimm Intelligencer had no way to confirm this. Nevertheless, he decided to travel to Yavin 4 and act on the information, albeit with extreme caution.

Before doing so, however, Kadann and Jedgar accompanied the Scardia Voyager on a journey to deliver Grand Moff Muzzer to Arzid. They waited in orbit over the planet while a shuttle ferried Muzzer to his sentry post; when the shuttle returned, however, it was laden with two extra passengers: Luke Skywalker and Ken, who had been captured by a group of stormtroopers on Arzid. The two, as well as a number of their New Republic allies, had encountered Kadann's forces by chance, though their comrades had escaped. Skywalker and Ken were taken to a cold chamber aboard Kadann's flagship, where they were interrogated by the faux Supreme Prophet. Kadann eventually persuaded Ken to drink a beverage containing avabush spice, a powerful truth serum. However, as Ken only consumed a small quantity of the avabush spice, it did not have the full effect, merely slowing his reactions and making him groggy. Hoping to lure Ken to ally with him, Kadann promised to provide him with the identity of his parents once they reached Yavin 4. Eventually, some time after the interrogation had finished, the Scardia Voyager arrived at Yavin 4. Kadann, wary of how easily Triclops' information had reached him, instructed Jedgar to send a team of stormtroopers ahead to discern if they were walking into a trap. He ordered that Hissa be sent down the tubular transport into the subterranean Lost City first.

Kadann watched via hologram as Hissa was sent down the tubular transport and into a sea of molten lava; Triclops' information had been a ruse. Enraged, Kadann threatened to send Skywalker down to the same fate as Hissa if Ken did not lead him to the Lost City's actual entrance. Kadann reiterated his offer to inform Ken of his parentage once they reached the Lost City; the Jedi Prince relented, succumbing to Kadann's demand. Skywalker was taken away and imprisoned aboard the brig of the Scardia Voyager by Jedgar; Ken provided the Prophets with the co-ordinates to the Lost City's entrance. The false Prophets set their ship down on Yavin 4's surface, and Kadann, Jedgar, Gornash, Ken, a tech specialist, and a team of stormtroopers traveled to the Lost City's entrance. When they reached it, they descended in the tubular transport and reached the Lost City of the Jedi.

Kadann ordered Ken to lead him to the location of the Lost City's central computer database. En route, they passed Ken's former home, and his pet mooka, Zeebo, bounded into his arms. The mooka attacked Kadann, scratching and biting at his face, but the Bimm Intelligencer threw Zeebo away and kicked the animal, before a stormtrooper stunned it. They eventually reached the Jedi Library, and though its caretaker droid, DJ-88, attempted to stop them, Kadann had his men access the computer. He spent some time studying its records on the New Republic. Once satisfied, he turned his attention to Ken, using the computer's database to show the Jedi Prince his parents: Triclops, Palpatine's true son, and Kendalina, a Jedi who had escaped Order 66 in 19 BBY. Kadann had DJ-88 deactivated, before ordering his subordinates to remove the computer and relocate it to the Scardia Voyager; to attempt to remove the datafiles themselves would result in the computer formatting itself.

They followed his orders and the troupe began to make their way back to the tubular transport that would lead them to the surface, deactivating everything in their path as they went. However, their path was soon impeded by Luke Skywalker, who was brandishing his lightsaber. Kadann was perplexed, as the transport—the only way to enter or exit the city, he believed—had not been used while he and his subordinates were there. Skywalker attacked Kadann, ordering him to free Ken; as the computer was the main priority, the impostor Supreme Prophet agreed to his demands. However, as Skywalker fled with Ken, a stormtrooper, firing after them, inadvertently destroyed the computer. Additionally, the New Republic deactivated all power in the city, trapping Kadann and his allies there.

They remained in the Lost City of the Jedi for some time. Eventually, with the help of Triclops, who had remained on Yavin 4 when the New Republic moved on to pastures new and whom Kadann made his slave, Kadann alone escaped. Though the Scardia Voyager had been slagged, they eventually made a way offworld and set a course for Scardia Station. En route, they learned that Ysanne Isard had reinstated galactic freedom of religion, nullifying any power the false Prophets wielded over the galaxy's citizens. Expecting to return to Scardia to meet with his fellow con Prophets, Kadann, accompanied by Triclops, arrived to find the space station littered with the bodies of his former comrades. A message came over the comm system damning Kadann; it was from Grand Admiral Afsheen Makati, an old foe of the true Kadann's. With the help of another of the real Supreme Prophet's enemies, his embittered former pupil Azrakel, Makati had tracked down what he believed to be the Prophets of the Dark Side and slain them. Before the faux Kadann could explain himself, he was gunned down by numerous turbolaser blasts. Makati met his demise soon after, but Azrakel eventually discovered that the true Kadann still lived. With the help of Dark Jedi Lumiya, he tracked Kadann to Bosthirda and killed him, before being slain by the other Prophets.

The false Kadann was a being trained in the art of deception. Working as an Imperial Intelligence operative during the Galactic Civil War, it was a testament to his acting ability that he was selected by the upper echelons of Imperial Intelligence to masquerade as a high-profile individual such as Kadann. He played the role very successfully, preaching his mock religion to the spiritually-starved citizens of Imperial Center with his cohorts and building up a great following. Few suspected his true identity, and even the Jedi Library in Yavin 4's Lost City—believed to be one of the most extensive information databases in the galaxy—was unaware that the Bimm was not in fact Kadann. Director of Imperial Intelligence Ysanne Isard, as well as the true Kadann's mortal enemies, Makati and Azrakel, also believed him to be genuine.

Kadann, however, was hungry for power. After getting a taste of it on Coruscant, he and his peers wanted more; they cut all ties to the legitimate Empire and formed their own faction, and Kadann ultimately proclaimed himself Emperor. He loved authority; those who failed him had no opportunity to do so again, and he forced his enemies—such as Hissa and the Grand Moffs—to go down on their knees and pledge allegiance to him. The faux Prophet was vain and overconfident, always assured of himself and his information. His network of spies kept him informed of activities around the galaxy, particularly those of his enemies or potential enemies, and he refused to entertain the notion that they could be wrong. He claimed that the only sight in the galaxy one would never see was Kadann making a mistake. One thing that the false Supreme Prophet was unaware of when beginning his ruse was that Kadann had myriad enemies who wished to enact their vengeance on him; this ultimately led to his downfall.

The false Kadann also had a taste for grandeur, which was very much out of character for the real Kadann, who was disinclined to put himself in the spotlight. The false Kadann gave the rooms in Space Station Scardia lofty names such as "the Chamber of Dark Visions"; he titled himself "Dreamer of Dark Dreams, Supreme Prophet of the Empire"; and he frequently made non-rhyming four-line prophecies which he heavily publicized.

The character of Kadann was created by Paul and Hollace Davids for their Jedi Prince series of children's books. Kadann served as one of the main villains in the series, appearing in three of the six books and being mentioned in the other three.

However, in 1994 an article published in Polyhedron 103 attempted to retcon this, claiming that the Jedi Prince books were merely a bedtime story told by Leia Organa Solo to her children and that the true Kadann was far more powerful than his counterpart in Leia's story. Written by Bill Slavicsek, a West End Games editor, and Michele Carter, the article's canonicity is dubious, as it may not have gone through proper licensing with Lucasfilm at the time of its publication; however, it has since been referenced in canon numerous times by The Dark Side Sourcebook, Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties and Who's Who: Imperial Grand Admirals, and Star Wars author Abel G. Peña has stated that part of the article should be assumed to be canon until something else contradicts it.

A number of years later, the Dark Side Sourcebook—written by Slavicsek and J.D. Wiker, with Michele Carter its editor—added another element to the character's identity. While it references some of Kadann's history from Polyhedron 103, it claims that the Kadann seen in the Davids' books was in fact an impostor, active during a time when the real Kadann was in hiding. Though this contradicted the Polyhedron article, the retcon means the parts of the Polyhedron article dealing with Kadann in the immediately post–Return of the Jedi period are actually describing the impostor Kadann.

Since the creation of the false Prophet, he has been referenced in a number of sources, including Abel Peña's Who's Who: Imperial Grand Admirals and Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties; the former establishes the impostor Kadann's fate while the latter establishes him as a member of the Bimm species. He also received entries in the appendix of The New Essential Guide to Characters and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, and the impostor retcon retroactively gave him an entry in the first Star Wars Encyclopedia.

Daniel Wallace's New Essential Guide to Characters features an entry for "Kadann"—though it describes the actions of the false Kadann, it refers to him as the true Prophet. The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia fails to distinguish between the two Kadanns, confusing them for one character.

The character's real name was only revealed in the 2013 article The Star Wars Spy Game: SPIN Declassified, written by Greg Mitchell and Abel G. Peña for the official StarWars.com blog. He was also revealed to be one of the numerous Ubooki brothers, who were first introduced in the 1994 article Glah Ubooki's Strange & Wondrous Imports, written by Shane Lacy Hensley for Star Wars Adventure Journal 1.

• "Prophets of the Dark Side: Villains for the Star Wars: New Republic Campaign, Part One" — Polyhedron 103
• Star Wars Encyclopedia
• "The University of Sanbra Guide to Intelligent Life: The Duros" — Star Wars Gamer 2
• The Dark Side Sourcebook
• The New Essential Guide to Characters
• "Who's Who: Imperial Grand Admirals" — Star Wars Insider 66
• The Official Star Wars Fact File134
• Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties on Hyperspace
• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
• Galaxy of Intrigue