A minor figure in the underworld, Binna Jode was a Human woman who also worked as a bartender. She owned the Cheapside Cantina, a drinking establishment located in Bestine, the capital city under Imperial control, situated on the Outer Rim planet of Tatooine. All this took place during the Galactic Civil War era. She was married to a cargo freighter pilot who disappeared after encountering pirates along the dangerous Corellian Run hyperspace route. Left to run the cantina by herself, Binna Jode maintained hope for her husband's return and assisted the local residents of Bestine and her friends through various hardships. However, she eventually departed Bestine upon hearing that her husband had been located alive in Wild Space and was making his way back to her.
During the Galactic Civil War period, there existed a Human female named Binna Jode, who engaged in petty crime and worked as a bartender. She had been married to a cargo freighter pilot, but he vanished when he was forced into a risky hyperspace jump to evade pirates on the Corellian Run. Some years after the Battle of Yavin in 0 BBY, Jode remained the owner of the Cheapside Cantina, which was located in the Imperial capital of Bestine on the Outer Rim planet of Tatooine. Throughout her time at this local city's cantina, Jode kept alive the possibility that her husband would one day reappear.
While she waited for a miracle, Jode befriended locals and became involved in their affairs. On one occasion, Jode discovered that an Imperial stormtrooper attack had occurred on a nearby Rebel base. During this assault, the Imperial's blaster fire went off course, nearly killing a civilian family. Moved by their situation, Jode arranged for the traumatized family to stay with a friend.
Binna Jode felt limited in what she could do, but when a spacer visited the Cheapside Cantina, she requested assistance in delivering a toy to the family's children. The spacer agreed to deliver the toy, which was inside a metal fuel drum, crudely decorated with colorful drawings. However, the spacer could not meet the family personally, because they had been called away to tend to a child who had been put into a bacta tank. However, a Human woman named Deehan met the spacer outside of Bestine, and promised to give the toy to the children. To thank the spacer for helping the family's children, Binna Jode prepared for the individual a delicious, special casserole. The casserole was similar to a worrt casserole, prepared from the meat of the planet's native species of worrt, although Jode did not reveal the exact contents of her meal.
Meanwhile, Gen Horosi, a local veteran of the Clone Wars, was injured when a crazed glitterstim spice addict shot at him randomly. Horosi's friends helped him home, but he still needed medical attention. When Jode found out about the incident, she gathered her credits and bought a stimpak. The spacer who had helped her earlier continued to visit the cantina, and agreed to deliver the medical device to Horosi, who could sometimes be found wandering aimlessly outside of town. Jode was grateful for the spacer's help, but reminded the individual not to mention Emperor Palpatine, as even saying his name was known to upset Herosi. The spacer found the injured war veteran walking around the desert outside of Bestine. When Herosi saw the spacer approaching him, he was initially concerned, as he almost mistook the spacer as a Confederate battle droid. However, when he realized he was being given a stimpak for his injuries, he calmed down and accepted the device. Again, for the spacer's help, Jode offered the spacer a meal, this time in the form of a soup. The soup was a special gift from Bren Kingal, a junior officer of the Rebel Alliance who handled security matters in Mos Taike, a small town on Tatooine. The soup was prepared from the secret recipe of Bren Kingal's sister.
Peele Noonal, a friend of Binna Jode, gave birth to her first child. After the birth, a nurse wrapped the baby in Noonal's shirt. Jode was dismayed, knowing that Noonal's shirt would be ruined. To help out her friend, Jode took off her black sidebutton shirt, and asked the spacer who had helped her earlier to deliver it to the young mother. Although the spacer was somewhat bothered by the fact that the shirt was still warm, the maternity gift reached Noonal, who was found wandering outside of Bestine before an impending sandstorm. For the spacer's help, Jode offered a glass of alcohol on the house.
Binna Jode continued to hope that her long lost husband would return. Although Jode was not eager to stay in Bestine as the proprietor of the Cheapside Cantina, she feared that her husband might never find her if she were to leave. Her wait would soon end, when Jode received a datadisc from a friend on Corellia which supposedly contained information on her husband. However, the data on the report, sent by a friend who had tried to find her husband, was corrupted. To salvage the data, Jode asked the helpful spacer to deliver the datadisc to a data slicer friend known as Dinnis the Blade.
The spacer agreed, and took the valuable datadisc outside of town to meet the data slicer. After handing over the datadisc, Dinnis the Blade analyzed it quickly, and concluded that Binna Jode's husband may have survived. He told the spacer that he was receiving a distant signal from Wild Space, and that although the husband had a bad engine and was low on fuel, he was flying back. After receiving Dinnis' analysis, the spacer headed back to the Cheapside Cantina to deliver the good news.
When the spacer returned to the Cheapside Cantina to tell Binna Jode about her husband, Jode was shaken and needed to sit down. She thanked the spacer briefly, but asked to be left alone to think. However, Jode provided the spacer a final gift in the form of a dustcrepe. The meal was a type of light crepe commonly served on Tatooine, comprising of a dry type of bread, wheat, and a filling of herbivore meat. Although Binna Jode asked to be left alone, she did say the spacer came in handy, and that she might have more work in the future. However, this was not to be. Sometime after receiving news of her husband, Binna Jode left the Cheapside Cantina, and could no longer be found there.
Binna Jode had fair skin, auburn hair, and brown eyes. Although she did not look particularly old, she referred to herself as an "old lady" at least once. Jode was kind and helpful, and often looked after her friends. Her friend, Peele Noonal, called Jode the "nicest lady in the galaxy" for giving her her own sidebutton shirt. Jode was also charitable, using her own credits to buy a stimpak for the Clone Wars veteran Gen Herosi. Jode especially cared for her husband, and never gave up hope that he would return to the Cheapside Cantina, even years after he disappeared. In addition to her talents as a bartender, Binna Jode was also a skilled cook, known for making delicious meals such as casseroles. She was also able to defend herself in combat, as she had some skill as a carbineer and pikeman.
Although Binna Jode did not talk much about her political beliefs, she seemed to dislike the Galactic Empire. When Imperial stormtroopers injured a civilian family, she criticized their poor aim. She also had ties to individuals who disliked the Emperor, including Rebel junior officer Bren Kingal, and the Clone Wars veteran Herosi. Jode spoke fondly of Gen Herosi, claiming he had "been through more than any squadron of stormtroopers."
During her time as bartender at the Cheapside Cantina in Bestine, Binna Jode usually wore a blue colored, formfitting muscle shirt with beige stripes, and a blue pleated skirt with beige trim on the bottom. She also wore white colored women's shoes. At one point, Jode wore a black sidebutton shirt, which she gave to her friend, Peele Noonal, so that she could have proper clothing after giving birth. As a carbineer, Binna Jode kept a blaster carbine as her primary weapon. She also possessed pirate weapons.
Binna Jode was a non-player character in the 2003 video game Star Wars Galaxies: An Empire Divided, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by Sony Online Entertainment and published by LucasArts, prior to its closure on December 15, 2011. Players who performed a series of quests for Jode in Bestine had to deliver an empty fuel drum to Deehan, a stimpak to Gen Herosi, Binna's shirt to Peele Noonal, and a datadisc to Dinnis the Blade. For completing each mission, players would receive a gift from Jode in the form of some kind of food item. The first reward was a special casserole, the second reward was a special gift soup, and the final reward was a dustcrepe.
There is some uncertainty about the third quest reward. Most player guide documentations report that the reward was a Veronian berry wine, while the game files suggest that the actual reward may have been Corellian ale. At least one player also reported Corellian ale as being a reward given by Binna Jode. The game developers may have changed the quest reward during the game's lifespan. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the third quest reward, this article does not specify the type of beverage Jode gifted to the player. Although the player could choose not to do Jode's quests, this article assumes 100% game completion. On February 11, 2004, with the release of the "Bestine Redesign" update included as part of Publish 6 The Imperial Crackdown, Binna Jode was removed from the game. She was later included as an entry in The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, published on December 9, 2008.