Tessek

Tessek was a Quarren male from the planet Mon Cala who was involved in galactic politics until the Galactic Empire began to enslave his people. This drove the Quarren into hiding on the desert planet Tatooine, where he put his financial skills to use for the Hutt gangsters there, becoming employed as an accountant at the palace of the crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Behind his employer's back, Tessek embezzled funds from Jabba into a secret account, diverting money from the Hutt's many enterprises. He plotted to kill the crime lord and take over his criminal empire; however, unbeknownst to the Quarren, Jabba had been informed of Tessek's plan by one of the B'omarr monks with whom the Hutt secretly conferred.

In 1 BBY, Tessek was part of the crowd in the Jabba's throne room when the Rodian Greedo returned from an unsuccessful mission to the planet Mygeeto. Greedo presented the lightsaber of Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi as tribute to Jabba, which the Ithorian Dok-Ondar immediately offered to buy from Jabba. This caused Jabba to show leniency and spare Greedo rather than dropping the Rodian into the pit below the throne room where the crime lord kept his pet rancor, Pateesa.

In 0 BBY, Tessek stood with the Askajian dancer Yarna d'al' Gargan in Jabba's throne room when the Hutt dropped an RA-7 protocol droid through a trap door into the rancor pit below the room. In 0 ABY, Tessek was again in the throne room when the Sith Lord Darth Vader arrived and requested the services of bounty hunters in Jabba's employ. The Hutt dismissed Tessek and the other court members present before negotiating with the Sith.

In 3 ABY, Han Solo, a smuggler affiliated with the Alliance to Restore the Republic, was frozen in carbonite. The bounty hunter Boba Fett was tasked with delivering the frozen Solo to Jabba, who had placed a bounty on Solo's head. However, Fett failed in this task when the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate stole Solo from him, and so Jabba placed a bounty on Fett as well. Hoping to confront Jabba, Fett traveled to Jabba's Palace, where he passed Tessek and Jabba's pet minder Ree-Yees, walking together as he approached the palace.

Fett was greeted at the palace's entrance by Jabba's majordomo, Bib Fortuna, who explained the Hutt was not on Tatooine as he was attending the Crimson Dawn's auction for Solo. The majordomo suggested the bounty hunter leave as a crowd, including Tessek and Ree-Yees, emerged behind him with their weapons aimed at the bounty hunter. Fett instead told the crowd that if they faced him then there was a chance they would die, and only for the sake of Fortuna. Silently, Tessek and the others in the crowd lowered their weapons and allowed Fett to enter the palace with Fortuna in order to see the invitation.

Solo was eventually delivered to Jabba and put on display in his throne room, still frozen in carbonite. The smuggler's co-pilot, the Wookiee Chewbacca, began using a training space and remotes on the Rebel Alliance flagship, Home One, to plan a rescue for Solo and visualized fighting his way through Jabba's cronies as well as various bounty hunters. Tessek was among those he imagined encountering during a session of planning that was interrupted by the arrival of Qi'ra, head of the Crimson Dawn.

In 4 ABY, Tessek stood with Fett in Jabba's throne room when the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO played a hologram of their master, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, for Jabba. In the message, Skywalker asked to bargain for Solo's freedom. The Jedi gifted the two droids to Jabba as a sign of good will, but the Hutt revealed he had no intention of negotiating, as he enjoyed the frozen Solo on the throne room's wall.

Tessek later sat against a column in one of the throne room's booths during a performance of the song "Jedi Rocks" by the Max Rebo Band. When the band finished, Jabba ordered them to play the same song again, and they obliged. However, during the performance, Jabba tried to pull the enslaved dancer Oola closer to him, but she resisted his advances. This caused the Hutt to activate the throne room's trap door, dropping the dancer into the pit beneath his throne room. The music instantly stopped, and Tessek and other members of the court rushed forward to watch Oola's fate through a grate in the throne-room floor. As the courtiers cheered and waved, Pateesa devoured the screaming dancer.

The court's attention was diverted by the sounds of blaster fire from the entryway to the throne room. Tessek and several others moved toward the noise, but stopped when Princess Leia Organa entered the room disguised as the bounty hunter Boushh with Chewbacca as her prisoner. Tessek backed out of the way as Organa made her way to stand before Jabba, who was glad to see Chewbacca brought low before him and offered the promised twenty-five-thousand-credit bounty on the Wookiee. Organa demanded double that, and produced an active thermal detonator as incentive. Tessek fled for cover, as did many other court members, but Jabba simply laughed and counteroffered thirty-five thousand credits, which Organa accepted. As Chewbacca was taken away to the palace dungeons, Tessek and the other court members cautiously emerged from cover, and the band soon resumed playing.

Organa's true objective in the palace was rescuing Solo, and later that night she crept back into the throne room while she believed the court was sleeping. Tessek was instead hiding behind curtains waiting to ambush Organa, as Jabba had seen through her disguise. They allowed her to free Solo from the carbonite, but once Organa had removed her mask, Jabba revealed his trap, and both Organa and Solo were captured. The court celebrated their new prisoners late into the night.

The next morning, much of the court was sleeping off the night of partying, and Tessek slept with Gargan's head on his shoulder in one of the throne room's booths. While Jabba also slumbered, Skywalker arrived at the palace and mind tricked Fortuna in to bringing him to Jabba and waking the crime lord. Tessek and the other members of the court also awoke as Skywalker demanded that Jabba release Solo and Chewbacca, and the Quarren stood with Gargan as Jabba refused the Jedi's request. Skywalker then threatened Jabba with a blaster pistol, causing the Hutt to drop the Jedi into the rancor pit, along with the unlucky Gamorrean guard Jubnuk. The court eagerly gathered around the grating to watch another execution, but after Pateesa ate Jubnuk, the Jedi killed the rancor.

Tessek still stood with Gargan when the outraged Jabba had Skywalker, Solo, and Chewbacca brought before him and sentenced the trio to be fed to the sarlacc that dwelt in the Great Pit of Carkoon. The pair joined the crowd that followed the three prisoners as they were marched from the throne room. Tessek was then forced to accompany the Hutt on his sail barge, the Khetanna, in order to view the executions. During the journey, Tessek danced beside the musician Max Rebo as he played his red ball jett organ. Upon reaching the pit, Tessek stood beside Jabba as the Hutt gave the prisoners one last chance to beg for their lives, then moved closer to the barge's shutters and laughed when Skywalker warned Jabba to release him and his allies or die.

Things took a turn after Jabba ordered that Skywalker be put over the edge of the Bantha-II cargo skiff into the sarlacc below, as the Jedi leapt back aboard, now armed with his lightsaber, which R2-D2 had launched to him. The Jedi began cutting down the guards around him as panic ensued on board the barge, which only became worse when Organa smashed the control panel that operated the hold's shutters and plunged all on board into darkness. Tessek and the other court members ran around in blind panic as Organa strangled Jabba with her own chain, killing the Hutt before escaping onto the top deck. Following Jabba's death, Tessek escaped the sail barge. At the top deck, Organa met up with Skywalker and fired the barge's deck cannon down into the vehicle before safely exiting with the Jedi as the barge exploded.

Tessek was a financially skilled and clever Quarren, who viewed the world of Jabba's palace with a clear and calculating mind. His loyalty to Jabba was a smokescreen to hide his desire to kill the Hutt, although the Quarren did not realize that Jabba probably knew of his schemes. The Quarren was, however, guilt-ridden over embezzling from his employer and so was desperate to escape. He lived up to some of the worst qualities attributed to Quarren by others, who often viewed the species as untrustworthy schemers willing to take any advantage. The accountant stood 1.8 meters (5 foot, 11 inches) tall and had orange skin and blue eyes.

Tessek wore white moisture-retaining robes with a white-lined gray cloak. He also wore a bronze-colored vand belt, gray gauntlets, and black shoes. He carried a blaster pistol and a polearm.

Tessek first appeared in the 1983 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. In costume, the character stood 183 centimeters tall and was nicknamed "Squid Head" by designer Chris Walas, although it was also known as "Squid Face" or "Squiddy" on set. Maquettes of the creature's head and hands were created for the film, and epoxy was used on areas of the final mask to make it look wet.

Tessek was portrayed by Gerald Home, one of nine mime artists who worked on the film. Originally the characters portrayed by the mime artists were supposed to have far more prominent roles in the palace, but due to the number of extras present, there ended up being no time or space for a lot of what they had intended to do. This meant that a lot of material that Home rehearsed with Claire Davenport, who portrayed Yarna d'al' Gargan, did not get used.

While on set, Home's glass would sometimes steam up, worrying him about falling through the hole in the set that represented the rancor pit. Home acted drunk as Tessek while on the sail barge set, although this did not make it into the film.

In the new Star Wars canon, Tessek was first identified by name in the 2015 book Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know published by Dorsling Kindersley.

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