Sidrona

Sidrona was a sentient male, slightly shorter than an average Human, with gray-blue skin. He had a bulky body, with a large head that had tentacles over his mouth. He lived at the height of the Galactic Republic more than four thousand years before the Battle of Yavin. A powerful public speaker, Sidrona became a senator of the Galactic Senate on Coruscant eventually became the Supreme Chancellor, though was also given the title "President of the Senate." He was a friend of the Republic's Minister of Defense, Netus, as well as Jedi Master Vodo-Siosk Baas.

His reign coincided with a series of terrorist raids on Republic shipyards. An unknown force was striking at various ship construction facilities throughout the galaxy, pillaging the half-completed vessels and leaving few survivors. The Republic was reeling from the attacks, and the Senate authorized a task force led by Admiral Orley Vanicus to attempt to intercept the pirates' next raid and put a stop to them. Rumors abounded that a rogue member of the Jedi Order was orchestrating and leading the attacks, but Sidrona refused to acknowledge that, as he was a supporter of the Jedi. Sidrona hoped that Vanicus and his fleet would be able to stop the terrorists, and the Senate refused the Jedi Order permission to intervene and deal with the supposed rogue Jedi themselves. The Jedi Masters, however, were concerned by the rumors, believing that they had substance, and Vodo-Siosk Baas was dispatched to attempt to persuade the Senate to overturn its decision and allow the Jedi to take action.

Sidrona and the Minister of Defense, Netus, greeted Baas as he landed his ship and disembarked along with Jedi Knights Dace Diath, Shoaneb Culu, Qrrrl Toq, Cay Qel-Droma, Nomi Sunrider, and Tott Doneeta. Baas wished they were meeting under better circumstances, though Sidrona was quick to point out that he felt the Jedi Masters' concern was premature, and that no solid evidence had been provided to support the rumors of Jedi involvement; Baas, however, stated that he had reason to believe it was more than just a rumor. Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of one of Netus's staff, who relayed a message sent by Admiral Orley Vanicus: the leader of the terrorist strikes was Ulic Qel-Droma, a Jedi Knight, and he was preparing a strike against the space station at Kemplex Nine; Vanicus had sent the majority of the Republic Navy there to intercept Qel-Droma.

The strike at Kemplex Nine proved to be a ruse, engineered by Ulic Qel-Droma to move Republic forces away from his true target—Coruscant, the galactic capital. Vanicus had played directly into his hands. Baas's Jedi escorts sensed the impending attack through the Force, but there was no time to prepare: Qel-Droma's forces arrived from hyperspace and started laying siege to Coruscant immediately. Sidrona and the Jedi began to flee the landing pad—which had been targeted by Qel-Droma's raiders, who destroyed Baas's ship—while Netus ordered his staff to muster up whatever defenses they could. The party of ten, consisting of Sidrona, Netus, and the Jedi, was ushered to safety by Republic soldiers, though carnage and battle followed them wherever they went. Mandalorian Basilisk war droids rained down on the planet's streets, but the Jedi were able to stop them from harming Sidrona and those accompanying him. Baas ordered Netus to find them a way to the Republic war room, where he believed the battle would be decided.

The group eventually made use of a repulsorlift vehicle which had space for all the Jedi as well as Sidrona and the Minister of Defense, though their passage to the war room was impeded by a number of Mandalorian foot soldiers. The Jedi were able to cut through them and sensed that Qel-Droma himself was present at the war room. As they neared it, however, the Mandalorian and Sith forces pulled back and retreated entirely, leaving Qel-Droma unprotected in the war room—Sidrona hoped that the Jedi could apprehend him, so that the Senate could put him on trial to make an example of him. They reached the war room, but in the end it never came to direct confrontation, as the Jedi used the Force to halt Qel-Droma. Sidrona thanked Baas for capturing the rogue Jedi; he decreed that Qel-Droma would stand trial and confidently stated that he would be given the death sentence.

Qel-Droma was imprisoned and the Senate arranged a trial post-haste, conducted at the enormous Senate Hall on Coruscant. The senators gathered, baying for Qel-Droma's blood, and Qel-Droma was put on the stand, shackled; Sidrona would act as the prosecution and key speaker. He made a short speech outlining the accused's crimes, branding him a traitor, and lambasting the young Human for turning his back on the Jedi Order and its code, before asking how he would plea. Qel-Droma, however, was unrepentant: he refused to plead with the Senate, claiming that they were fools and puppets of tradition, and that his Sith Empire would crush their accomplishments and abolish the Senate.

As Qel-Droma defamed the senators and the Chancellor, his brother, the Jedi Knight Cay Qel-Droma, ran toward the pulpit. He pleaded with his brother to be silent and allow him to try to persuade the senators of Ulic's innocence, but the former Jedi refused. Cay attempted anyway, telling the Chancellor and his colleagues that Ulic had done much good for the Republic, fighting in the Beast Wars of Onderon and the Freedon Nadd Uprising, but that he had been traumatized by the death of his Jedi Master, Arca Jeth. The senators still wanted Qel-Droma dead, though, and the man standing trial himself ordered his brother to stop trying to help him. As the Qel-Dromas argued, however, the Senate Hall's doors were forced open by another being, Dark Lord of the Sith Exar Kun, Qel-Droma's ally.

Kun strode into the chamber with confidence, flanked by a number of his Massassi warrior bodyguards and Mandalorian Crusaders, including Mandalore the Indomitable. He used the Force to prevent the senators from speaking or moving, though Sidrona was unaffected by the Sith spell. The Jedi, also unaffected by Kun's powers, engaged his warriors in combat, though Kun's true target was the Chancellor. He ordered Qel-Droma and Mandalore the Indomitable to occupy the Jedi, while he strode toward Sidrona's pulpit. He ascended the steps until he was on the same level as the Chancellor, who pleaded for the Senate Hall's security guards to come to his aid; everyone in the chamber, however, was incapacitated by Kun's sorcery.

Sidrona attempted to defend himself, swinging his metal staff at Kun, though the Dark Lord of the Sith easily blocked the strike with his Sith amulet, sending the staff sprawling out of the Chancellor's hands. Kun then attacked him, grabbing his head and using the power of his Sith amulet to force Sidrona to repeat Kun's anti-Senate, anti-Republic rhetoric. In tremendous pain, and with fluid rapidly oozing from his head, the Chancellor told the congregation that the Senate was outdated, useless, and that it would be of no consequence during the impending golden age of the Sith. During that display, Kun buried his fingers into the back of the Supreme Chancellor's skull and into his brain, before releasing his grip on Sidrona, who was by then dead, and throwing him at the ground.

Kun left Sidrona's body on the pulpit, though Master Vodo-Siosk Baas arrived just moments later. He engaged Kun in a duel, though the Dark Lord of the Sith eventually prevailed and slew the Krevaaki Jedi. Kun and Qel-Droma subsequently denounced the Senate and the Republic, claiming that the Brotherhood of the Sith controlled the galaxy. Ultimately, Kun was vanquished and by the time of the Mandalorian Wars forty years after the demise of Sidrona, he had been replaced.

Sidrona was a staunch supporter of the Jedi. During the early stages of the Great Sith War, he refused to believe that a lone, rogue Jedi Knight was leading the attacks on the Republic. He and his fellow Senate members stopped the Jedi from intervening until there was hard evidence of Jedi involvement. Sidrona was a powerful and charismatic public speaker, and not one for small talk. When Baas met with Sidrona and Netus on Coruscant, he cut straight to the chase and spoke with Vodo about the persisting rumors of the rogue Jedi leading attacks on the Republic. He also proved himself a strong orator when Ulic Qel-Droma was captured, and in his subsequent trial. However, Exar Kun was able to break down his resolve and control him, ultimately causing Sidrona's death.

Sidrona was created by Kevin J. Anderson for The Sith War, part of the Tales of the Jedi comic series. He appeared in issues two and three of The Sith War. Despite holding a position of importance, he was not named in the comic, and has yet to be by subsequent sources. Anderson and Daniel Wallace mentioned the character in The Essential Chronology, referring to him simply as the "President of the Senate." However, Ulic Qel-Droma's StarWars.com Databank entry calls him "Supreme Chancellor." Sidrona was first named in Straight from the Horse's Mouth: A Guide to the Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi Universe, Part 3, an article in Star Wars Insider 28 in 1995, though the Chancellor's name has not been used in any subsequent sources.

There was initially some confusion over the identity of the character, who is often erroneously believed to be Netus, a separate character.

• "Straight from the Horse's Mouth: A Guide to the Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi Universe, Part 3" — Star Wars Insider 28
• The Essential Chronology
• The New Essential Chronology
• Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide: Updated and Expanded