Haninum Tyk Rhinann was a male Elomin from the planet Elom. After the Declaration of a New Order in 19 BBY, Rhinann was slated for a life of slavery under the Galactic Empire. However, Darth Vader, the Sith Lord and enforcer of Emperor Palpatine, intervened, recruiting the Elomin to be his aide. This new position came with substantial compensation and living quarters within the Imperial Palace on Coruscant, then known as Imperial Center. Months later, Vader instructed Rhinann to track down and locate the fugitive Jedi Knight Jax Pavan. The Dark Lord had devised a trap involving the droid 10-4TO, but he needed someone to pinpoint Pavan's precise location.
To accomplish this, Rhinann explored various methods, including sending agents and droids into the Yaam Sector of Coruscant, where Pavan was in hiding. Eventually, through captured surveillance footage, Rhinann discovered Pavan's alliance with Nick Rostu of Haruun Kal, a former Republic army officer and wanted murderer. The Elomin then directed Captain Drach Coven of the Interstellar Trading League to capture Rostu, who was subsequently brought before Vader. The Dark Lord successfully persuaded Rostu to assist the Empire in hunting down Pavan. Meanwhile, Rhinann was consumed by fear, convinced that Vader would eventually execute him for perceived failures. Desperate to protect himself from his master, the Elomin purloined the Sith holocron of Darth Ramage from the Palace archives, only to be immediately summoned by Vader for a trip to the planet's Factory District. Rostu's location had been traced there, leading Vader to believe that Pavan could also be found there. The Imperials encountered Pavan, but the Jedi managed to escape capture with the help of his allies. During this attempted arrest, Rhinann made the decision to unofficially resign from the Empire and join Pavan, hoping to evade Vader's wrath.
Later, Rhinann sought to obtain a vial of bota from I-5YQ, Pavan's droid companion, hoping to gain access to the Force. However, his aspirations were dashed when he learned Vader had already used the substance at the Imperial Security Bureau. Enraged, the Elomin attacked his former employer, attempting to bring the Dark Lord down with him to their mutual destruction. Vader, however, survived.
Haninum Tyk Rhinann, a male Elomin, lived on Elom until Emperor Palpatine initiated the Imperialization of the galaxy. While most Elomin were forced into slavery and placed in labor camps, Rhinann escaped this fate by becoming an aide to Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith. Following his appointment, he resided in the Imperial Palace on Imperial Center and received a substantial salary. Despite the advantages of his new position, Rhinann lived in constant fear of Vader.
Several months after the Declaration of a New Order, Vader conceived a trap specifically designed to capture the fugitive Jedi Knight Jax Pavan, for reasons unknown to Rhinann. The Elomin was given limited insight into the mechanics of the trap but knew that the droid 10-4TO would serve as bait. The plan involved spreading information throughout the underworld claiming that the droid possessed data crucial to the Whiplash resistance movement. Vader ensured this information reached Jedi Master Even Piell, Pavan's former master. Piell was then expected to attempt to locate the droid. According to Vader's plan, Piell would be killed, and news of his death would reach Pavan. Pavan would then hopefully discover what his master had been seeking and attempt to complete Piell's mission.
Piell did indeed die under the blasters of a stormtrooper squad, and shortly afterward, Rhinann was summoned to Vader's antechamber for a report. As Rhinann attempted to report Piell's death, he discovered that Vader had already sensed the Jedi Master's passing through the Force. Vader informed the Elomin that Pavan was hiding in Imperial Center's Yaam Sector. Vader himself couldn't locate Pavan through the Force, as doing so would alert the fugitive Jedi to the Dark Lord's interest. Rhinann was then tasked with locating Pavan, but the Elomin protested, arguing that the Yaam Sector was too large to search effectively. Vader dismissed his excuses and subtly threatened Rhinann. The Elomin ceased his protests and began the task.
Initially, Rhinann deployed netdroids to scour the HoloNet for any information related to Pavan. He also assigned slicers to search Imperial Center's security grid for any information on the fugitive that might have originated from the Jedi Temple records. To refine his search, Rhinann set parameters such as the absence of previous employment and credit records. Furthermore, he dispatched both covert and overt agents, along with miniature search droids, to scour the Yaam Sector for Pavan. Despite these measures, Rhinann knew that agents and droids alone wouldn't locate the Jedi quickly enough.
He initiated datasphere queries and discovered that numerous male and female Humans on Imperial Center shared the name "Jax Pavan." Rhinann narrowed the search to only male "Jax Pavans," but this was still unhelpful, as over half a billion Human males on Imperial Center bore that name. In the Yaam Sector alone, there were over eight thousand men with that name. The Elomin began to suspect that Pavan might have hired a slicer to erase all connections to the Jedi Order.
Panicked, Rhinann attempted to use the Jedi Temple's genome records to pinpoint his quarry's identity but failed. In desperation, he narrowed the results to any "Jax Pavan" remotely linked to the Jedi and discovered a recent holorecording. The recording showed a group of stormtroopers being fought and killed by Nick Rostu, a former Republic army officer and wanted murderer, and another man wielding a lightsaber. The fight was taking place inside a resiblock called the "Coruscant Arms," prompting Rhinann to research the building's resident list. Among the findings was a listing for "Jax Pavan." Confident that he had found his quarry, the Elomin noted that Pavan had already moved out of the Coruscant Arms, but Rhinann was undeterred.
Vader confirmed that the man in the holo was Jax Pavan, so Rhinann continued his investigation. Hovercameras detected Rostu's presence in Tangor Square, and the Elomin swiftly hired Captain Drach Coven of the Interstellar Trading League aboard the Far Ranger to apprehend the Korunnai. Vader wanted to speak with Rostu personally, so Rhinann had Coven bring his new captive to Docking Bay 1453CG in the Palace. Accompanied by his Givin underling, Rhinann took custody of Rostu, paid Coven, and had stormtroopers arrest him and his Weequay colleague, Mok. Coven was wanted for crimes against the Mercantile Guild, so Rhinann had both him and Mok liquidated, and the Far Ranger impounded.
Rhinann then took Rostu to Vader's chambers. The Korunnai initially protested, but the Elomin explained that Vader wanted Rostu to locate Pavan. The Dark Lord spoke with Rostu in private, but when the Korunnai left Vader's chambers, he was in a near vegetative state and needed physical guidance. Rostu had apparently agreed to help find Pavan and was given the Far Ranger for his mission. To prevent Rostu from fleeing Imperial Center, Rhinann had implanted a subcutaneous tracer and ensured Rostu knew about it. After Rostu left, Rhinann wondered what Vader had done to the Korunnai to transform a hardened criminal and soldier into a stumbling wreck. The Elomin then began to speculate about his own usefulness to Vader and whether he would soon be replaced. Rhinann was so terrified that he developed a rash of pruritic papules. He also felt he was about to suffer a full systemic vascularity, concerning because he was too young for such an ailment by Elomin standards.
Vader summoned him again, but Rhinann couldn't confirm whether Rostu had contacted Pavan. Believing his job was killing him with fear, Rhinann considered ways to leave Imperial Center. However, fear of reprisal from his master overcame his better judgment, and he sought methods to protect himself from the Dark Lord. He ventured into one of the Palace's storerooms and scoured Catalog Nineteen for unidentified holocrons. Catalog Nineteen contained various esoteric devices and trinkets collected by the Empire after the Clone Wars.
He found a Sith holocron, exactly what he was looking for. He fervently believed a Sith holocron would contain secrets granting him immunity from Vader's powers. Taking the holocron, marked "SD41263.I," he replaced it in the catalog with another item, changed the manifest, and tried to return to his chambers. Before he could, Vader summoned him, tired of waiting for Rostu's signal and deciding to follow the Korunnai's tracking device, assuming he had contacted Pavan. Rhinann accompanied Vader to the Factory District, where Rostu had been tracked. The Elomin's fear was heightened by rumors about the creatures lurking in the Factory District, and he was still carrying the stolen holocron.
As Vader's Lambda-class T-4a shuttle approached the building in the Factory District where Rostu had been tracked, he ordered the shuttle's captain, Tanna, to take Pavan alive but kill anyone accompanying him. Rhinann found it curious that the first person to exit the building alone was Prince Xizor of House Sizhran. Vader ordered Tanna to ignore Xizor, who had diplomatic immunity, but was sure that once Pavan was captured, the prince's presence would be understood. One of the shuttle officers then reported a sudden, massive buildup of radioactivity from beneath the building. Vader surmised it was an overloading reactor core and, using the ship's equipment, learned that the core would explode in fourteen minutes, destroying everything nearby.
Vader ordered Tanna to move the shuttle out of the explosion's range before shooting down the Far Ranger, parked nearby. Just as the captain prepared to execute the task, Pavan and his companions—the injured Rostu, Gray Paladin Laranth Tarak, protocol droid I-5YQ, journalist Den Dhur, and Black Sun assassin Kaird—exited the building. Countermanding his previous order, Vader had Tanna fire warning shots at the group and dispatch troops. The shuttle suffered blaster fire from I-5YQ and Tarak, and Pavan leapt towards the ship, destroying its forward repulsorlift vanes with his lightwhip. Acting on impulse again, Rhinann decided to resign from the Galactic Empire. Leaping into one of the shuttle's escape tubes, he reached the landing below with minimal fuss.
Locating Pavan, the Elomin hurriedly requested permission to join the Jedi and his companions. Pavan agreed without hesitation, and took Rhinann with him to the parked Far Ranger. The Jedi's companions had reached the freighter, which took off as soon as Rhinann and Pavan were aboard. Meanwhile, Vader's shuttle continued to flounder. Within two minutes, the core exploded, leading Tarak to assume Vader was dead, but Pavan thought otherwise. The Far Ranger was taken to a Black Sun safehouse known to Kaird. While there, Rhinann mostly kept to himself while the others debated their next move.
Recordings from the Far Ranger's rear camera confirmed that Vader had escaped the blast, disappointing the group. Rhinann made it clear to Pavan that he wanted to leave Imperial Center before presenting the Jedi with the holocron, which only someone attuned to the Force could activate. Pavan chose not to activate the holocron immediately and revealed he had been hunting 10-4TO, who had been destroyed in the Factory District during an altercation with Xizor, who had also been hunting the droid for its valuable data. Rhinann explained there was no data and that the droid had only served as bait in Vader's trap. The Jedi was surprised that Vader would put so much effort into capturing him, but accepted it. Instead of leaving Imperial Center, Pavan chose to stay and help those disenfranchised and subjugated under Palpatine's rule.
Rhinann, along with the others, received a substantial sum of money from Kaird, who later returned to his homeworld of Nedij. The money wasn't enough for the Elomin to return home, so he had to stay with Pavan and his cohorts on Imperial Center. Despite becoming incredibly depressed, the skills Rhinann had acquired as Vader's aide made him a natural fit for the group's procurer. They resided in a relatively upscale apartment in the Southern Underground, from where they helped people escape Imperial Center. Pavan lacked a lightsaber, hindering his ability to operate as a Jedi, forcing him to use a vibroblade. Rhinann couldn't procure a replacement lightsaber, but he found a Velmorian energy sword, which he presented to Pavan around the time of the Destruction of Caamas.
Shortly afterward, Pavan and his cohorts were engaged by Dejah Duare to extract her and the artist Ves Volette from Imperial Center. Rhinann, depressed as usual, paid little attention to Duare and the situation, instead devoting himself to studying the Force. Secretly, he measured his own midi-chlorian count and was disappointed to find it incredibly low. Discouraged, he turned his attention to procuring lightsaber parts for Pavan. In his search, he found a transmission made by Jedi Knight Barriss Offee during the Battle of Drongar. In it, Offee claimed that a bota distillate increased her ability to use the Force. Although Rhinann couldn't decipher the whole message, he believed that, if the report was true, he might be able to forge his own connection to the Force and wreak revenge on all who had wronged him.
He continued his unsuccessful search for bota, eventually losing his last opportunity when Vader took it himself in the Imperial Security Bureau. Enraged, he attacked Vader but fell out of a window to his death, taking Darth Vader with him. In his final moments, he felt the Force thanks to Vader's supercharged powers from a bota injection.
Rhinann was punctual, especially when serving Darth Vader. He understood and valued punctuality. Like most of his species, Rhinann was obsessed with cleanliness and presentation, believing it made him ideal for his post as an aide. Like most Elomin, he considered his race more civilized than any other. Rhinann despised Humans, finding them anarchic and destructive. He also derided the Elom, who shared his homeworld with the Elomin. To assess a culture, race, or species, Rhinann studied the architecture of a location, finding Imperial Center's haphazard collection of architectural styles typical of Humans.
Rhinann was fascinated by the Force, a key reason for accepting the job as Vader's aide, though he would have been enslaved otherwise. Vader's presence instilled great fear in Rhinann, despite the Dark Lord saving him from slavery. After a particularly poor meeting with Vader, Rhinann would try to purge the experience from his memory and protect himself from the Dark Lord's wrath. His constant fear of Vader eventually caused physical illness, concerning him deeply. Rhinann was generally afraid of high adventure and dangerous operations, though he enjoyed reading about them. He would occasionally act rashly under pressure but would later reflect on his errors self-effacingly.
Haninum Tyk Rhinann first appeared in 2008's Coruscant Nights I: Jedi Twilight. In the novel, written by Michael Reaves, Rhinann is a supporting character. The events on the Imperial side of the story are told from his perspective.