The Keeper was a machine with an artificial intelligence located on Keeper's World. It was accompanied by four android children. Built by a non-violent civilization to preserve their homeworld in a time of war, the Keeper drew its power from its home planet's core, which allowed it to survive long after the people had fled. The Keeper was installed to restore the world to its former status for its makers, so that when they would return years later, the planet would be suitable for them to live on.
Shortly after the Battle of Yavin, Rebel Alliance agents Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa landed on the Keeper's planet seeking shelter from an Imperial fleet. Battling their way through the wilderness with the aid of their two droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, they stumbled upon the Keeper's Temple, and in turn met the Keeper's four android children. The Keeper was convinced that the Rebels were of good faith, and decided to help them by forcing the Imperial troops that had landed to flee offworld. Skywalker and Organa then left the Keeper in peace to continue her task of building a civilization.
At some stage prior to the Imperial era, the people of Keeper's World fled from their homes to escape impending destruction in a galaxy-wide war. However, the people were fond of their homeworld, and wished to restore it to its former state. They thus built the Keeper; a gargantuan machine which drew its power from the planet's core. They tasked the Keeper with reshaping its creators' world so that the planet would be as it was by the time of their return.
The Keeper creates her Children.
The Keeper had been programmed with a mother's instinct, and since its work lasted many centuries, it naturally grew lonely. To counter this, it created four android "Children" to provide company. These Children resembled the youths of the Keeper's civilization, save for different eyes, and they were imbued with abilities that would allow each one of the four to control a separate element of nature: fire, earth, wind, and water. The children were tasked with aiding the Keeper in reshaping the world—by using each of their powers to their full extent, the Keeper hoped they would be able to recreate a fully functioning ecosystem.
When the Keeper and her children recreated the jungles of their world, they also created gargantuan monsters that towered over the trees. The Keeper and the Children used this to their advantage, and employed the creatures as security for their temple. The Keeper maintained the hostile appearance of the planet to ward off any would be intruders, invaders, or any new settlers.
Sometime in 0 ABY, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, C-3PO and R2-D2—agents of the Rebel Alliance—set out from a rebel base on Yavin 4 to make contact with the second major Rebel base, located in the Akuria system. Due to a poor repair job performed on R2-D2 following the Battle of Yavin, the astromech droid caused their starship to prematurely exit hyperspace, and, by coincidence, in the middle of an Imperial fleet. However, due to Skywalker's Force-enhanced piloting skills, the Rebels were able to temporarily escape capture. His evasive maneuvers caused the Rebel transport to become caught in the gravitational pull of Keeper's World, where it was forced to land.
The Keeper causes an explosion, which stops a stormtrooper in his tracks.
In the planet's jungles, the rebels encountered a large humanoid monster, part of the hostile environment which served as a defense system for the Keeper and her "Children". Eventually pursued by an Imperial search party, the rebels entered the Keeper's temple, where C-3PO accidentally triggered one of the Keeper's teleportals. The Rebels were transported to the deeper levels of the Temple.
The rebels eventually came across the Keeper's "Children" who had assessed that they were of good intent. After the Children had finished demonstrating their powers, they brought the rebels into the core of the temple to meet the Keeper directly.
When the Rebels were presented to the Keeper, she was outraged. She had been displeased with the fact that they had learned of the Children, let alone the mainframe itself. Attempting to remedy the situation, the Keeper instructed the intruders by subconsciously beaming content to their minds. The content was a history lesson which outlined the Keeper's existence to the foreigners. The situation clarified, the Keeper instigated a groundquake to ward off the Imperial troops, and then allowed the Rebels to leave by repairing their ship.
The Keeper was programmed with a mother's sensibilities. Despite all the effort she put into the task, there was no reward for her—at least not one that she could perceive. She felt that her motherly output needed sufficient return, and, at the same time, she decided that assistance was required in her task. She had no time for outsiders and feared that they might damage or even destroy her precious work. Even her homeworld's non-violent attitude was imbued in her programming, as she did not directly seek to enter into confrontation with foreigners; instead, she used nature to ward them off.
The Keeper was created by Archie Goodwin and first appeared in Caverns of Mystery!, the seventh installment of the comic serial The Keeper's World. In that story, the Keeper is the key manipulator behind all of the events that take place on the Keeper's world. The Keeper's first appearance was provided by Tony DeZuniga. To date, The Keeper's World is the Keeper's only appearance.