Deacon, sometimes called Deak, was a childhood companion of Luke Skywalker. They both resided in Anchorhead on the desert planet of Tatooine.
Deak was frequently observed alongside his pal Windy Starkiller, whom he constantly shadowed throughout Anchorhead. Another local from Tatooine, Biggs Darklighter, once described Windy as "a follower" and Deak as "someone who follows a follower".
Deak and Windy were there when Gorm Maldorf, a local boaster, challenged Luke to a speeder race in The Cage. The two friends cautioned Luke about Maldorf's dangerous nature, but Luke still accepted the challenge. On the morning of the race, Gorm was discovered dead in The Cage, having been strangled. Following Deak and Windy's assistance in Luke's escape, Luke investigated the death and concluded that Gorm had accidentally died while attempting to sabotage the race the previous night.
As they entered their late teens, the group of friends included Biggs Darklighter, Janek "Tank" Sunber, Laze "Fixer" Loneozner, and Fixer's girlfriend Camie. These teenagers would often spend time together at Tosche Station in Anchorhead. They engaged in simulated dogfights with their T-16 skyhoppers and raced through the winding canyons near their homes.
When Biggs gained acceptance into the Academy, his friends and other local inhabitants organized a celebration for him, which was interrupted by an attack from Sand People. Sometime later, shortly before the Tantive IV was seized by Darth Vader above Tatooine, Luke challenged Fixer to a perilous skyhopper race. Deak believed Luke had no chance of winning, and he accompanied Fixer during the race. The last time Deak saw Luke was on the morning when Biggs confided in Luke about his intentions to join the Rebel Alliance.
Jay Benedict portrayed Deak in A New Hope, but only in the Anchorhead scene that was ultimately cut from the film's final version. Distinguishing between Deak and Windy in the scene is difficult. This scene was later restored in the Blu-Ray release. In the radio drama, David Paymer provided his voice. Deak has only one line in the script, but in the filmed scene, it appears to have been expanded into a brief background conversation between him and Windy. Conversely, while Luke mentions mock dogfights with Deak in the script, this line is absent from the cut footage, which transitions into the scene on the subsequent line.
"Deak Starkiller" initially appeared in the rough draft of Star Wars as the younger sibling of Annikin Starkiller and the offspring of Kane Starkiller; he meets his end at the hands of a Sith during one of the opening scenes. In the first draft, he was renamed Bink Valor, which is believed to be the origin of Jar Jar Binks's surname. However, Bink suffered the same fate. He took on a more heroic persona as a Captain of a Rebel freighter and an Aquillian Ranger in the second draft. He is portrayed as the older brother of Luke Starkiller, Windy, and Biggs. In this version, Deak is the one imprisoned by the Galactic Empire and requires rescue, rather than Leia. He becomes one of Luke's allies at the power station in the third draft, along with Windy.