Anduvil

Anduvil was an Ogemite who was born on the planet Ogem. Ogemites were widely known as traders throughout the galaxy, a profession also held by Anduvil's father. Ogem society was structured along gender lines, with men dominating the trading sector while women were excluded. Anduvil seemed destined for a life outside of trading until her father's unexpected death. He contracted Bledsoe's disease, a highly contagious and fatal illness, and eventually succumbed to it. As his sole heir, Anduvil inherited his business, becoming one of the few female Ogemite traders.

Despite Ogem's reputation for prioritizing profits and avoiding galactic politics, many Ogemites joined the Rebellion, citing the Empire's overextension of credit and reliance on the Rebels to pay in cash. Anduvil was among those Ogemites who allied with the Rebellion, working as an intelligence agent and providing valuable information to Alliance Command. Although she was allied with the Rebels, she remained somewhat independent, operating as a freelance smuggler.

As an Alliance intelligence agent, Anduvil investigated outbreaks of Bledsoe's disease that were occurring on various planets. Anduvil was stationed on Tay'ah'loo when a transport capsule containing squills crashed on the planet. The squills, infected with a genetically modified strain of Bledsoe's disease, rapidly infected the local population. Unbeknownst to Anduvil and the Rebellion, the Galactic Empire had weaponized Bledsoe's disease in an effort to eradicate the seeds of rebellion. The disease caused a change in the infected individual's eyes. By manipulating the disease, the Empire was able to cause infected individuals to display a star map in their eyes, which could be read by Imperial agents to pinpoint Rebel bases for destruction. As Bledsoe's disease devastated Tay'ah'loo, the Imperials read the star map in the eyes of the infected, identifying a Rebel outpost on the planet Kholes. After the Imperials destroyed the Rebel base, Anduvil grew suspicious of the sequence of events. Although she was still unaware of the Empire's manipulation of Bledsoe's disease, she reported the occurrence to her Rebel handlers.

This same pattern—a transport capsule landing on a world followed by the destruction of a nearby Rebel outpost—occurred three more times in Imperial sectors. However, Anduvil was still unable to connect the events or understand their correlation. When a transport capsule carrying squills crashed on Tatooine, Anduvil traveled to the planet and informed Alliance Command, which assigned pilot Luke Skywalker to investigate. Despite his reluctance to return to his home planet, Skywalker piloted his starship to Tatooine. After landing, Anduvil's ship was seized by the Empire, but she still made her way to Mos Eisley Cantina to await her Rebel contact. As Skywalker's ship entered orbit above Tatooine, Anduvil contacted the Rebel ship, requesting that he meet her at the cantina and ask for her by name.

Anduvil was at the bar when she noticed the Rebel pilot entering the cantina. As Skywalker searched for her, she spotted a bounty hunter working for Jabba the Hutt aiming his blaster pistol at her Rebel contact. Anduvil reacted quickly, firing a blaster bolt into the bounty hunter's arm, disrupting his aim and leaving him injured on the cantina floor. Skywalker thanked Anduvil, who identified herself as the intelligence operative he was there to meet. Anduvil ordered two red dwarf beverages for them, and they moved to a corner table to discuss business.

As Skywalker listened, Anduvil shared the information she had gathered about the transport capsules, Bledsoe's disease, and the Empire's method of transmitting data about Rebel outposts. Just as they were discussing the Bledsoe's outbreaks, a Jawa at the bar suddenly collapsed. The bartender identified the Jawa as a carrier of Bledsoe's disease. The cantina quickly emptied as patrons tried to avoid contracting the deadly ailment. At Anduvil's suggestion, Skywalker and his droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, boarded a landspeeder and left Mos Eisley in an attempt to escape the plague. After Luke asked Anduvil where they could hide for a while, Skywalker guided Anduvil into the Tatooine desert and toward an abandoned hut. Anduvil questioned Skywalker about the hut and its previous owner and received a brief description of Ben Kenobi and how he had taught Skywalker about the Force. As they were talking, the Force warned Skywalker of an ambush by Tusken Raiders, and he narrowly pushed Anduvil out of the path of a swinging gaderffii weapon. Anduvil and Skywalker worked together to defeat the Tusken Raiders, but they were unable to prevent the raiders from destroying their landspeeder.

Anduvil treated Luke's wounds from the battle, but she lamented the fact that they were now stranded in the desert. However, Skywalker noted that the Tusken Raiders' banthas were now available for them to use. The group commandeered the dead Tuskens' mounts and headed into the desert. As they traveled, the Rebels spotted a task force of Imperial stormtroopers investigating a stopped sandcrawler surrounded by Jawa victims of Bledsoe's disease. The Rebels watched as the stormtroopers examined the eyes of the Jawas but failed to find what they were looking for. They departed after incinerating the infected Jawa corpses with their blaster rifles. Anduvil and Skywalker headed for the sandcrawler to investigate further, but as Skywalker attempted to enter the Jawa vehicle, an escaped squill bit the young man. Although the bite was not deep, Anduvil knew that the creatures were carriers of Bledsoe's disease and warned Skywalker that he had been contaminated.

As Skywalker tended to his wound, the stormtroopers returned to the sandcrawler, which they had kept under surveillance. Despite Anduvil's claims that she was a simple trader and that her "customer" had been bitten by a squill, the stormtroopers pushed her aside and examined Skywalker's eyes. The young Rebel was already showing signs of the disease, and his eyes had begun to display the star chart that the Empire needed. The stormtroopers took Anduvil and Skywalker into custody, leaving R2 and C-3PO behind, and transported them to the Imperial garrison base for further evaluation. After being escorted into a medical room, Skywalker was examined by Doctor Kaaldar, who confirmed the diagnosis of Bledsoe's disease and used an ocular printer to capture a photo of the star map that was appearing in his eyes. Anduvil asked if Dr. Kaaldar could cure the deadly disease, but although a serum existed, Kaaldar refused to administer it. Skywalker's eyes now held the secret to the Empire's method of communicating the location of Rebel bases, and he would not be allowed to live. However, as Anduvil and Skywalker were being escorted to the base's detention center, Skywalker attacked with his lightsaber, killing the guards and allowing Anduvil to seize one of the stormtroopers' blaster rifles.

Anduvil held Kaaldar at blasterpoint and forced him to administer the serum to Skywalker. Under threat of further violence, Kaaldar revealed the Empire's scheme, confirming the connection between the outbreaks of Bledsoe's disease and the destruction of Rebel bases. Kaaldar's confession also linked the Empire to the epidemic of Bledsoe's that had been affecting various populations. Just as Kaaldar finished telling the Rebels everything he knew, they were interrupted by a battle alert, indicating the base was under attack. Unbeknownst to Anduvil and Skywalker, R2 and C-3PO had commandeered the abandoned sandcrawler and followed their master. R2 had crashed the vehicle into the base's main gate, destroying it and triggering alarms throughout the base. As Anduvil and Skywalker rushed out to investigate, they witnessed the Imperial commander issuing an order for the two droids to be destroyed. Skywalker immediately attacked, unwilling to let his droids be harmed, while Anduvil made her way to the abandoned hangar to create a diversion. Working quickly, Anduvil rigged one of the TIE fighters to explode by sabotaging its P-s4 twin ion engine. By realigning the energizer and thus compromising the recharging system, Anduvil had turned the fighter into a time bomb.

With the bomb's timer running out, Anduvil stole an Imperial speeder and used its blaster cannon to eliminate the stormtroopers who were about to fire on Skywalker and the Imperial commander he had taken hostage. Skywalker, the droids, and the Imperial hostage piled into the landspeeder and fled from the base as the remaining Imperials fired on them. The Imperial attack was suddenly halted as Anduvil's sabotaged fighter exploded, destroying the base. As the Imperial base crumbled, Anduvil piloted the speeder around a ridge, shielding them from the blast. The Rebels returned to Mos Eisley, where Bledsoe's disease had devastated the population. Witnessing the victims of the Empire, Anduvil and Skywalker resolved to bring the Imperial commander back to Alliance Command so that he could reveal the Imperial plan to the rest of the galaxy.

As Anduvil's ship had been confiscated, the Rebels boarded Skywalker's ship. Using the Imperial commander as leverage to ensure their safe departure from Tatooine, the group headed for Yavin 4. As they departed, Skywalker invited Anduvil to dinner after their mission concluded. Anduvil accepted, but the romance did not last long beyond the mission, as Skywalker ultimately prioritized his duty to the Rebellion over a relationship with the Ogemite woman.

Anduvil was a quick-thinking Rebel agent with a strong personality. She was tall for an Ogemite and wore her blonde, feather-like hair short. Anduvil felt fortunate to be able to work as a trader, as many Ogemite women were excluded from the trading industry. Although she identified as a trader, Anduvil also worked as a smuggler and maintained an independent operation despite her allegiance to the Rebel Alliance.

During her mission to Tatooine, Anduvil proved to be a capable intelligence operative, providing valuable information about the Empire's use of Bledsoe's disease to the Alliance. She was also skilled with a blaster pistol, demonstrated by her defense of Luke Skywalker from a bounty hunter and her fight against Tusken Raiders. She possessed some medical knowledge and was intimately familiar with Bledsoe's disease due to her father's death from the affliction. She understood how the disease was contracted and attempted to warn Skywalker to prevent him from becoming infected. Anduvil also helped treat Skywalker's wounds from the Tusken Raider battle. During their escape from the Imperial base on Tatooine, Anduvil demonstrated familiarity with the schematics of an ion engine, quickly sabotaging one to turn it into a makeshift bomb. She was also a capable pilot, driving two different landspeeders during the mission to Tatooine.

During her interactions with Skywalker, Anduvil was impressed by his lightsaber skills and inquired about his abilities in using the Force. During their time on Tatooine, she saved Skywalker's life on several occasions, and Skywalker returned the favor at least once, pushing her out of the path of an attacking Tusken Raider. Although she accepted a date with Luke Skywalker after their mission, the chemistry they experienced during their operation did not endure, and Skywalker ultimately ended the relationship to refocus on the Rebellion.

Anduvil was created by Steve Gerber and illustrated by Russ Manning for use in "Tatooine Sojourn," a comic strip published by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. Dark Horse Comics reprinted the story in Classic Star Wars: The Early Adventures 4, which colored the originally black-and-white comic strip panels. The collection also omitted the Sunday comic strips because they generally repeated parts of the storyline already presented in the weekly strips. However, the Sunday strips did include some exclusive dialogue and action. Specifically, the final Sunday strip for "Tatooine Sojourn" showed Luke Skywalker inviting Anduvil to dinner, which was not repeated in the weekly strips and was therefore excluded from the Dark Horse reprint.

The character received an entry in the original StarWars.com Databank, which listed her as "Anduvil of Ogem," the title she used when introducing herself to Luke Skywalker. Two articles in Star Wars Galaxy Collector magazine also discussed Anduvil's exploits during the comic strip. ComicScan: Coming Full Circle referenced "Tatooine Sojourn" and Anduvil's role in the storyline in issue 3, and ComicScan: Luke-ing for Love in all the Wrong Places in issue 7 mentioned Skywalker's short-lived romance with Anduvil. The character was also included in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.