Groznik

Born on Kashyyyk, Groznik, whose name in Shyriiwook meant "furious jester," spent much of his youth swinging through the trees of the planet's verdant forests and playing games of stick and ball with other Wookiees. Like many of his species, he was soon captured and enslaved after the Galactic Empire came to power. Groznik was forced by his Imperial captors to load and unload heavy machinery and artillery onto supply shuttles at a military base on Endor's moon, where he was kept in chains and under constant guard by armed stormtroopers.

The base was attacked and liberated by a group of freedom fighters some time before the Battle of Endor. Although they were affiliated with the Rebel Alliance, they received little assistance from the Alliance. Groznik took advantage of the chance to exact revenge on his captors, attacking wildly and killing Imperials with his fists, shackles, and any machinery he could find. Throm Loro, one of the fighters, shot down a stormtrooper and Imperial officer who were about to shoot him from behind, saving the Wookiee's life at the last second.

Groznik immediately showed his gratitude to Loro, embracing him tightly and pledging a life debt. Because of the Wookiee's unwavering loyalty, the two quickly became close friends and were inseparable. Groznik accompanied Loro when he went back to his homeworld, Cilpar, to liberate it from Imperial control under Moff Boren Tascl and Governor [Norquest](/article/norquest], assisting in the organization of his resistance efforts.

Loro established the Cilpari Resistance with Groznik's assistance, and he entrusted his Wookiee companion with private information that others were not aware of, including the identity of Winter, the Rebel operative who assisted Loro in coordinating his resistance forces. The Cilpari Resistance, in part because of Groznik's efforts, proved to be a disruptive force against the planet's Imperial forces. Tascl, who had superior firepower, countered with powerful military strikes that were overwhelming.

At the Battle of the Cliffs, a skirmish in the mountainous region of the planet, the resistance suffered a significant setback in 4 ABY. The battle started as a fight against stormtroopers, but the Imperials soon received reinforcements in the form of two Lambda-class T-4a shuttles, and the Cilpari Resistance lacked the ships or artillery to defend themselves. Loro was shot in the back and killed by one of the shuttles as Groznik and he fought side by side.

Groznik, enraged, threw a boulder at the craft as it flew by, tearing off the left wing and destroying the ship that had murdered his master. The resistance was able to flee as a result of this action, which turned the tide of the battle, but Groznik did not even have enough time for the customary Wookiee mourning period. Even killing those responsible for Loro's death did not bring him closure, and he was left with feelings of guilt and regret that would stay with him for the rest of his life.

Loro had told Groznik about his wife, Elscol Loro, long before his death, and even though the Wookiee had never met her, her connection to his former master was enough for the life debt to pass to Elscol. He vowed to never leave her side from that point forward, and he fought alongside her as she continued to lead her late husband's resistance movement. The Wookiee also helped the movement by transporting and maintaining heavy weapons, as well as escorting vehicles through the planet's forests by swinging from tree to tree and using his sense of smell to locate traps.

Despite his strong loyalty to Elscol Loro, Groznik never felt as close to her as he had to Throm, and he never fully trusted her as he had his deceased friend. Groznik never shared with her the secrets Loro had shared with him, including Winter's identity or whereabouts. Elscol honored Groznik's wishes and made no attempts to persuade him to reveal any private information.

Groznik and Loro nevertheless had a deep affection for one another, and their shared sense of loss and grief over Throm brought them closer together. They would occasionally isolate themselves to mourn together, crying as they looked at holograms of Throm and reminisced about him. Groznik became especially protective of Loro during these times, and he became agitated whenever anyone tried to bother them.

About a month after the Battle of Endor, Rebel Commander Wedge Antilles and members of his elite Rogue Squadron arrived on Cilpar on what started out as a routine mission to escort a food convoy to Mrlsst, another planet in the Colonies Region. Groznik crept up on the Rogues, allowing Elscol Loro to capture and disarm them. Antilles eventually persuaded Loro, Groznik, and the other resistance fighters that they were on the same side and agreed to assist them in eliminating the Imperial presence on Cilpar.

Groznik quickly proved his strength and usefulness to the Rogues by helping them defend themselves from an ambush by stormtroopers and an AT-ST piloted by Boren Tascl himself. Antilles gave Groznik permission to oversee the defense of the makeshift Rogue Squadron base west of Kiidan, the Cilpar capital city. Groznik, with the assistance of Dllr Nep, the Sullustan Rogue pilot who used his keen sense of hearing in conjunction with Groznik's keen sense of smell, kept the base secure. Groznik and Nep became friends during their long nights of guarding the base together.

Weeks later, after Tascl's soldiers captured Winter and veteran Rogue pilot Wes Janson, Antilles planned an attack on the Moff's palace in Kiidan. During the battle, Loro discovered that [Vance Rego](/article/vance_rego], a longtime member of the Cilpari Resistance, was a double agent who had betrayed the resistance and Rebel forces to Tascl. Rego, believing Groznik to have been killed in TIE Fighter attacks, attempted to murder Loro by throwing her from a moving speeder truck.

Groznik, however, avoided the TIE attacks and jumped onto the speeding vehicle. He attacked Rego, threw the traitor away, and then swung Loro to safety on a nearby vine. Loro and Groznik, presuming Rego to be dead, joined the attack on the Imperial palace, where the Wookiee personally located and attacked Tascl. Groznik, determined to avenge Throm Loro's death, was about to break the Moff's neck when Elscol stopped him, insisting that Tascl be brought to justice.

Elscol Loro accepted Antilles' invitation to join Rogue Squadron after the Cilpari Resistance movement was successful. Groznik, convinced that Throm's legacy had been honored by the liberation of the planet, insisted on following Elscol and the Rogues to Mrlsst about a month later. The squadron was sent to the planet to negotiate with the Mrlssi for control of the Phantom Project, a purported cloaking device for space vehicles that used very little energy.

Groznik was primarily responsible for guarding Wes Janson, who had broken his leg on Mrlsst and was using a power chair, whenever Loro participated in Rogue missions. Groznik had no official role with Rogue Squadron other than this task, and he continued to watch over Loro instead. Janson jokingly complained that when Groznik watched him, the Wookiee spent more time worrying about Loro than guarding him.

Imperial stormtroopers attempted to arrest Groznik, along with Rogue Squadron pilots Loro, Janson, Dllr Nep, Tycho Celchu, Plourr Ilo, and Derek Klivian—as well as local allies Mirax Terrik and Koyi Komad—during a visit with Janson at the Mrlssi Central Academic Hospital, falsely accusing Celchu of stealing the Phantom Project datacards. Groznik was essential in assisting the group's escape, throwing stormtroopers through transparisteel windows and charging through scores of enemies to create a path for them to flee. Komad led the group to safety in the planet's underground, which was controlled by the humanoid alien Nasta.

Loro and Groznik remained behind while the other Rogues followed a lead that they thought might lead to the recovery of the stolen datacards. The duo was soon confronted by what appeared to be the Force ghost of Throm Loro, shortly after the Rogues departed. Groznik was ecstatic and enchanted by the idea that his former master had returned, and in his joy, he failed to consider whether the apparition might be a hoax, even though Throm Loro had never been a Jedi. He unquestioningly knocked Elscol out when Throm instructed him to do so.

The Throm Loro image was, in reality, a Mrlssi Laser Phantom, a sophisticated hologram created by Professor Rorax Falken. As a ploy to con credits from the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance, Falken, a well-known physicist, had created the plans for the fake Phantom Project. Groznik piloted a ship to Falken's Lab, which had been constructed into one of the numerous asteroids in a field orbiting Mrlsst, at the phantom Throm's command.

Even though Falken held Nep and Terrik hostage and openly discussed his deceptions in front of Groznik, the Wookiee was so eager to keep believing Throm was alive that he blindly served both Falken and the phantom. Groznik fought alongside the Throm image when Loka Hask and his Imperial stormtroopers raided the lab in search of the datacards. The Wookiee reveled in the opportunity to fight alongside and protect his master once more.

However, his joyful delusions were short-lived, ending when Falken was shot down, causing all of his Mrlssi Laser Phantoms to vanish. Groznik watched in anguish as Throm Loro vanished before his eyes, and the sensation that he had once again failed to save his master's life caused him to lose control. The Wookiee attacked the stormtroopers with his bare hands, taking on dozens at once and beating them to death as his Rogue friends fled the lab in Mirax Terrik's Pulsar Skate.

Groznik himself passed out and collapsed on top of a pile of dead Imperial soldiers only after all the stormtroopers had died. Hask, wrongly assuming the Wookiee was dead, investigated the lab and discovered the gravitic polarization beam, a molecular weapon that disrupted matter at the atomic level. Falken had secretly developed the weapon, which was capable of destroying an entire planet.

However, Antilles and the other Rogues remotely activated the superweapon in order to destroy the lab and the weapon itself, preventing it from falling into Imperial hands. Hask attempted to flee to his shuttle, where he intended to jump into hyperspace, but the revived Groznik grabbed his ankle and successfully prevented his escape. The gravitic polarization beam discharged, forming a hyperspace wormhole that obliterated Groznik, Hask, his Interdictor Star Destroyer Dominator, and Falken's Lab.

Elscol Loro was profoundly affected by Groznik's death because she was still grieving the recent loss of her husband. The Mrlssti regarded Groznik as a hero of the Rebellion and erected a memorial statue of the Wookiee on the Mrlsst Trade and Science Academy campus. Groznik gained notoriety for his association with the renowned Rogue Squadron and his actions on Mrlsst, despite never achieving the fame or status of the Wookiee Chewbacca. Han Solo demonstrated this when, more than two decades after Groznik's death, he recalled the stories of Groznik and his devotion to Throm and Elscol Loro as he mourned Chewbacca's passing.

Groznik had light-brown fur and a dark-brown streak that ran down the middle of his face, from the top of his head to his chin. He frequently wore shoulder straps with pouches and utility pockets in green, gray, or brown. Groznik favored hand-to-hand combat because of his immense strength, even though he frequently carried and was skilled with a blaster rifle. He frequently demonstrated his ability to perform extraordinary feats in combat, such as destroying a TIE Fighter by striking it with a tree branch and a Lambda-class T-4a shuttle by hurling a boulder at it.

Groznik was able to swing and leap from trees and other large distances with ease due to his upbringing on Kashyyyk. He could even keep up with landspeeders at that speed, and he felt far less at ease when confined to the small space of slower-moving vehicles. Groznik was a skilled pilot and mechanic, and he could move discreetly in outdoor settings. He also had a keen sense of smell, which made him a great scout and guard.

Groznik had a quick temper, which was partly caused by the tragedies that had shaped his early years. Groznik was prone to snapping when pushed too hard due to his kidnapping, captivity, and cruel treatment at the hands of Imperials. The death of Throm Loro, in particular, had a profound and lasting negative impact on Groznik, instilling in him a sadness that would never go away and causing him to become withdrawn and distant from the majority of other beings, including occasionally Elscol Loro.

Groznik, like many Wookiees, had a strong sense of loyalty and took the idea of the life debt very seriously. His devotion to Throm was unmatched, and he never stopped holding himself accountable for his master's passing. His sense of loss was so powerful that he readily accepted Rorax Falken's Mrlssi Laser Phantom vision of Throm Loro as the resurrected spirit of his master, even when there was strong evidence to the contrary.

Mike Baron created Groznik, who appears in the first two story arcs of the Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron comic series, The Rebel Opposition and The Phantom Affair. Allen Nunis, Andy Mushynsky, and David Nestelle drew him in The Rebel Opposition, while Edvin Biukovic, Gary Erskine, John Nadeau, and Jordi Ensign drew him in The Phantom Affair. The depictions of Groznik differ slightly between the two comics; in The Rebel Opposition, Groznik is a lighter shade of brown, lacks the dark brown streak down his face, and has thicker and longer hair than in The Phantom Affair.

Michael A. Stackpole stated in a post to the alt.fan.wedge newsgroup that he did not create Groznik while writing the plot of The Rebel Opposition. Instead, Mike Baron, the scripter of The Rebel Opposition, came up with the character on his own. Stackpole objected to what he saw as "a retread of the Han Solo/Chewie story" and said he "hated it the second [he] saw it." Stackpole included Groznik's death in the story outline when he plotted out The Phantom Affair. Despite Stackpole's concerns that Lucasfilm would prevent scripter Darko Macan from killing the Wookiee, they nonetheless permitted it.

Elscol Loro stated in the first issue of The Rebel Opposition that Throm had freed Groznik from captivity during a raid on "an Imp base on Endor." The description of Groznik's backstory in Star Wars Handbook 1: X-Wing Rogue Squadron also stated that Endor was the location of the Imperial supply base where he had been enslaved. However, the collected versions of these issues in Star Wars Omnibus: X-Wing Rogue Squadron Volume 1 omitted these references to Endor.