Helgait

Helgait, a male of the human species, sided with Count Dooku of the Separatist Alliance during the times of the Age of the Republic. He viewed the Republic as a haven of corruption and considered Dooku a forward-thinking individual who was eliminated prematurely. When the Republic transformed into the Imperial Regime, Helgait persisted in his resistance, believing them to be equally flawed. Following the Empire's collapse, around 9 ABY, he had risen to the role of Security Head and a government official on the world Plazir-15, having previously served the Duchess's family.

In his capacity as Security Head, Helgait illicitly acquired Techno Union nano-machines and introduced them into a supply of the droid grease Nepenthé, with the intention of causing the droids, upon which Plazir's citizens depended, to turn against their owners. The rulers of Plazir, the Duchess and Bombardier, became aware of the droids' rogue behavior; when the Mandalorians Bo-Katan Kryze and Din Djarin arrived, the rulers requested that they investigate. Kryze and Djarin commenced their investigation by reviewing security recordings in the Security Office, presented by Helgait, who feigned ignorance of the malfunctions—he stated that although the droids had once been configured for aggression, they had since been reprogrammed.

Kryze, puzzled, questioned why the droids were not simply deactivated, asking who had the authority to do so. Helgait informed her that it was within his power but that the citizens, content to spend their days in leisure while the droids performed the labor, had voted against disrupting the droid services. He asserted that the citizens could not function without the droids, leading to the disintegration of their society. Helgait continued, requesting that they decommission the remaining malfunctioning droids, a list of which could be obtained from the Ugnaughts in the planet's lower levels.

The Mandalorians' investigation led them to the droid establishment The Resistor, where they discovered that all of the rogue droids had consumed the same batch of Nepenthé. After analyzing the substance—obtained from a malfunctioning B2-series super battle droid—they detected the nano-droids and traced their purchase back to Helgait. Kryze and Djarin then returned to the Security Office, confronting Helgait about his programming of the droids for attack and demanding that he accompany them.

After a moment of hesitation, he abruptly stood, placing his hand over the button he had previously identified as the shut-off switch for the droids; he revealed that it was actually a failsafe to override the droids' docile programming, threatening to turn them all violent against the unsuspecting population. Kryze stood firm, ordering him to surrender; Helgait scoffed, declaring that he had not surrendered to the Republic or the Empire and would certainly not do so for her. Based on this statement, Kryze deduced that the commissioner was a Separatist sympathizer, which he found offensive—he was merely a supporter of democracy who admired Count Dooku. Before he could elaborate, Kryze fired an electroshock dart, incapacitating him and causing him to fall to the ground.

Djarin and Kryze then presented a restrained Helgait to the Duchess and Bombardier, surprising the latter; Djarin explained that Helgait was responsible for the malfunctions, which the commissioner confirmed to the Duchess. Bombardier found the security head's actions reprehensible, but Helgait accused him of being equally so, describing the planet as "unrecognizable" since Bombardier's arrival. The Duchess voiced her disappointment in Helgait, as he had served her family faithfully in the past, acknowledging that Bombardier—a former Imperial—had made mistakes like everyone else. The commissioner apologized, hoping to gain her forgiveness; the Duchess allowed for that possibility but banished Helgait to the satellite of Paraqaat, causing gasps from onlookers. Helgait lowered his head, accepting his fate and departing with the law enforcement droids.

Helgait was featured in "Chapter 22: Guns for Hire," the sixth installment of The Mandalorian's third season, which premiered on April 5, 2023. He was played by Christopher Lloyd, also famous for his role as Doc Brown in the 1985 science-fiction film Back to the Future. In the episode, lab technician's analysis of the combat droid alludes to Brown by including in Aurebesh the phrase "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads," a line spoken by Lloyd in Back to the Future.