Tepoh

The genderfluid human Tepoh was born on the Mid Rim planet Naboo. During the Republic Era, the Naboo worker began serving in the employ of the diplomatic corps headquartered on zher homeworld. While in the corps, zhe engaged in several assignments that required zher to serve as both an aide and part of a protective detail. At some point, Tepoh took the time to travel the galaxy outside Naboo.

In 22 BBY, Tepoh's work in the diplomatic corps caught the attention of recruiters working for Naboo's former queen, Senator Padmé Amidala. Zhe was invited to an interview by Amidala's handmaiden Dormé to assess whether zhe would be a well-suited aide for the senator. Although initially hesitant, Tepoh attended at least one interview out of curiosity and left a positive impression on Dormé. However, Dormé selected other candidates to serve as Amidala's handmaidens, reflecting that Tepoh's diverse skillset was too similar to hers. Afterward, Dormé sent a recommendation for Tepoh to her former colleague Representative Saché, who worked for the Naboo planetary legislative assembly.

Shortly after, Saché contacted Tepoh and arranged for zher to have an interview with her for an aide position. The representative inquired why Tepoh had pursued a handmaiden role with Amidala, learning that zhe had not initially been interested in the role but had instead been sought out for an interview by the senator's recruiters. The pair amiably discussed what serving as Amidala's handmaiden had been like for Saché during the senator's reign as queen, and Tepoh expounded on how zhe had grown into affirming zher gender identity and sense of self. Trusting Dormé's recommendation of zher, Saché opted to hire Tepoh as her aide.

Afterward, zhe prepared to travel with zher new employer to the planet Karlinus on a diplomatic mission to re-negotiate a bill affecting the Chommell sector—a sector of space containing both Karlinus and Naboo. Tepoh helped pack the representative's belongings for the journey and organize travel plans, pleasing Saché with zher attention to detail. While aboard their transport vessel to Karlinus, Tepoh read through a Karlini guidebook as zhe traveled to become more familiar with the planet's culture before the diplomatic meetings, as zhe had not visited the world before. Upon arrival on Karlinus, Saché introduced Tepoh to Harli Jafan, a former associate she had worked with as Amidala's handmaiden. When Jafan escorted the pair to the home of Karlinus's Governor Kelma in Karlini City, Tepoh excitedly took in zher surroundings as they passed through the city. After arriving, Kelma welcomed Saché and her aide to Karlinus and greeted Tepoh after learning zher name. As zher employer began working with the governor, Tepoh provided the representative with her official legislative recording device, datapad, and stylus.

On the first day of meetings, Tepoh joined Saché during the early dinner break. As zhe speedily took notes on zher datapad, Kelma requested a private conversation with Saché. Saché suggested zhe depart and take a break from screens to rest followed by a tour of the gardens. Although the dismissal was abrupt, Tepoh was familiar with political dealings and took no offense. While Tepoh was away, Saché met with Karlini citizens to hear their stories of liberation from slavery and wished Tepoh had joined her.

When Saché returned to the city, curious to discover who was responsible for the liberation of individuals, Tepoh began working with her to plot the origin planets of the freed individuals on a galactic map. After some hours, near midnight, Tepoh proposed a theory as zhe projected a three-dimensional map from zher table to the air. Zhe theorized that the connection of the Outer Rim planets centered around the frontlines of the Clone Wars conflict between the Republic and the Separatists. Saché confirmed each world was affected by Separatist incursions that received a response from the Republic Army and where Republic law did not exist. Tepoh then suggested that small merchant-run companies who had initiated transporting supplies due to the war were responsible for freeing enslaved individuals. After the conversation ended, Tepoh yawned, and Saché sent zher to bed.

Later, Tepoh joined Saché as the community of representatives discussed amendments to the legislation. During the economics discussion, Tepoh informed Saché when matters required her attention. After the successful reworking of the bill, Tepoh joined Saché at the celebration, accompanied with zher datapad, where zhe informed her that all their belongings had been packed and zhe was ready to schedule the pair's departure in thirty minutes; they then left Karlinus together.

As a highly motivated and organized aide, Tepoh enjoyed paying attention to detail. Zhe took great pride in zher work and took strides to improve zher professional skillset. Tepoh felt strongly about the fluidity of zher gender identity, sometimes wishing to be perceived as female and sometimes not. By the time zhe served as Saché's aide, Tepoh had considered zhemself comfortable with zher internal sense of self. Although zhe was initially nervous about applying for the position of Amidala's handmaiden, zhe found great comfort in Saché's assurance that zhe would have made a good aide for the senator. Tepoh appreciated being praised for zher work and was surprised when Kelma acknowledged zher presence at diplomatic meetings alongside Saché and asked how to address zher.

After gaining experience in the Naboo diplomatic corps, Tepoh proved talented at managing Saché's hectic legislative schedule. Zhe was a hard-working, detail-oriented individual who was proud of zher professional performance. Dormé considered Tepoh's skillset similar to the Naboo Royal Handmaidens, a group she felt was multi-talented and versatile.

As Saché's aide, Tepoh's wardrobe was well-stocked with functional clothing that reflected zher personality. Zhe cared deeply about zher choice of attire and was only willing to accept jobs that would allow zher to dress as zhe wished. When Saché interviewed zher, zhe wore a flowing green skirt. While on a mission to Karlinus, zhe donned a silver, embroidered blazer and dark blue trousers. On the same trip, Tepoh sported a flowy, knee-length tunic with several pockets, which zhe used to carry several items.

Tepoh's duties as Saché's attendant required zher to use and carry numerous devices throughout zher day. Zhe owned a datapad, which zhe used to take meeting notes swiftly. Tepoh also acquired a Karlini guidebook and studied it en route to Karlini. Additionally, zhe carried Saché's datapad, official legislative recording device, and stylus for zher employer and provided them upon request during negotiations.

Tepoh appeared in Queen's Hope, a 2022 young-adult novel written by E. K. Johnston. In response to a fan's inquiry, Johnston indicated that while she did not envision Tepoh to look similar to any particular person, she imagined that zhe had long hair that zhe styled in an updo. The author also expressed she felt Tepoh's choice of clothing was often fancier than Harli Jafan's, expounding that zher overall look depended on the gender zhe was presenting as at any given time, mirroring the aide's wish for zher clothing to reflect zher fluid gender identity. In 2020, Johnston indicated on Twitter that Amidala would welcome the addition of a non-binary handmaiden on her team. The author later integrated this concept into Queen's Hope with Tepoh's introduction as a non-binary interview candidate for the senator's team, which included prose supportive of an individual of any gender—not just girls—being able to take up the role as long as they could fulfill their duties.

Johnston considered the tale of how she had developed Tepoh one of her favorite stories to tell. She indicated that zhe was present in the first draft of Queen's Hope and initially used both "he" and "she" pronouns alternated within scenes to reflect the aide's gender fluidity. Eventually, the author chose to create a new neopronoun set for Tepoh to simplify the scenes for readers. At the suggestion of Jennifer Heddle from Lucasfilm Story Group, Johnston agreed to change from the original set of pronouns she created to "zhe/zher" pronoun set, which was first introduced within Star Wars canon by author Chuck Wendig in Star Wars: The Aftermath Trilogy and used for the non-binary pirate Eleodie Maracavanya at the suggestion of Jennifer Heddle from Lucasfilm Story Group. While writing, Johnston specifically paired Tepoh with Saché because she was the most independent of Amidala's handmaidens still working in the political scenes, and noted that Dormé's passing of zher details to the representative was intentional. When the author sent in the draft, the Story Group asked her if she would be willing to make Tepoh a trans character instead. However, after thinking about the topic for a few moments, Johnston indicated she would not be willing to, as the character's gender was not static during zher interactions with Saché and zher dialogue was very dependent on zher gender fluidity. The author then added the transgender clone trooper Sister to the second draft in addition to Tepoh to meet the request, an addition that was celebrated by the Story Group's Emily Shkoukani, who she had several conversations regarding the aide with.

The author included Tepoh in the book specifically to be a character who could not be Amidala's shadow in the way that Sabé was—not because of lack of physical similarity—but for personal and emotional reasons. She considered the aide's role integral to Sabé's development in Queen's Hope despite the two never crossing paths as a person who could not be Amidala's double but was nonetheless capable of great things. When writing Tepoh's scenes, Johnston was inspired by a scene including the genderfluid character Alex from the second Magnus Chase book, The Hammer of Thor, in which Alex's gender changed several times within a scene. She wished to capture the same essence as Alex's inclusion in that Tepoh would wake up some mornings and be capable of putting on a dress to be Amidala's shadow but be incapable of such on other mornings, which would preclude zher from the position of handmaiden when body doubling was needed.