Jedidiah was a male Velmoc originating from the world of Velmor. In his youth, he declined an offer for instruction in the ways of the Jedi Knight. Functioning as an advisor to the king of his planet during the Galactic Empire's dominance, Jedidiah foresaw the Empire's deceit concerning the planet's governance. He chose to remain with the royal family instead of pursuing his Jedi aspirations. Jedidiah's suspicions were validated when the Empire instigated a violent coup, leading to the deaths of both the king and queen. Their eldest son, Denid, also an opponent of the Empire, was targeted for elimination. However, Jedidiah rescued the prince and spirited him away from Velmor. The king and queen's other son, Anod, who sympathized with the Empire, was spared, as the ruling Imperials intended to use him as a puppet leader. During Jedidiah's escape from his now-hostile home, he and the prince crash-landed on a remote jungle world. Jedidiah extracted the prince from the burning wreckage, but upon returning to gather supplies, he was struck by a large piece of debris. This incident resulted in severe brain trauma, leaving Jedidiah with only a fragmented memory of his Jedi dream.
Two decades later, specifically in 3 ABY, Luke Skywalker, an aspiring Jedi Knight, and Leia Organa, a leader of the Rebel Alliance, discovered Jedidiah and Denid. Skywalker and Organa hoped to restore Denid to his rightful position as the monarch of the Velm system. The Rebels, along with Jedidiah and Denid, returned to Velmor just as Anod's coronation was about to take place. Tradition dictated that twenty years must pass before Denid could be legally declared dead, allowing Anod to assume the throne. Zelor, the ruling regent, was displeased to find Denid alive and orchestrated the prince and his companions' assassination through the Imperial agent Zeta Traal. After isolating the three Humans during a Mrid Hunt, Zelor attempted to eliminate all involved, including his allies, to seize the throne for himself. However, Jedidiah, sensing his friends' peril through the Force, rushed to their rescue. Just as Traal was about to shoot Skywalker, Jedidiah dove in front of the blaster fire, sacrificing himself for the young Jedi. Following Jedidiah's death, Skywalker honored the would-be Jedi by placing his body in a rocket-powered coffin and launching it into space as a final tribute.
Jedidiah was among the few remaining Velmocs on the planet of Velmor. His ambition for much of his life was to become a Jedi. However, by 17 BBY, two years after the Jedi Order was decimated by Order 66, issued by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, Jedidiah had become a trusted confidant and advisor to King Lorac and his family. The Galactic Empire, desiring to exploit Velmor's resources and pristine landscapes, targeted the planet. The Imperial Diplomatic Corps dispatched emissaries to Velmor, seeking to integrate it into the Empire. Jedidiah, wary of the Imperials, cautioned King Lorac about their motives, but his warnings were largely disregarded. Around this time, Jedidiah's Force-sensitivity was discovered, leading to an invitation to become a Jedi. Despite his deep desire to become a Jedi, Jedidiah remained suspicious of the Imperial presence and declined the offer, believing the royal family would eventually need his assistance.
Jedidiah's concerns were confirmed when the Imperials orchestrated the event later known as the Great Revolt. A group of Velmorians, bribed with Imperial funds, launched a violent coup, storming the palace. King Lorac and his wife, Queen Denira, were killed, but their younger son, Anod, who held Imperial sympathies, was spared. The Imperials, aware of the Velmorians' strong loyalty to their monarch, chose to install a king they could control rather than eliminate the entire royal family. The king and queen's eldest son, the fifteen-year-old Denid, who opposed the Imperials, was also marked for death. However, Jedidiah rescued Denid and his betrothed, the Alderaanian Loren. Pursued by the mob, the trio fled the planet in a small shuttle with limited supplies.
Unfortunately, the shuttle used for their escape had a faulty hyperdrive and was running low on fuel. It crashed in the nearby Tantajo system on the jungle planet Tantajoc V. Jedidiah pulled his companions from the wreckage, but when he returned to retrieve supplies, he was struck in the head by falling debris. This caused severe brain damage, and combined with his feelings of isolation, the Velmoc lost his rational thought. He was left only with his long-lost dream of becoming a Jedi Knight, and he began using a gnarled wooden staff as a makeshift lightsaber. With Jedidiah's mental state compromised, Denid was left to fend for himself. Loren had died in the crash, and Denid buried her near their small encampment established near the crash site.
For the next two decades, Denid and Jedidiah struggled to survive on the hostile planet. Despite contracting the Velmoc flu at one point, Denid became a skilled huntsman and tracker. He even learned to defend them from the native predators, which could only be killed with an anti-magnetic polarization ray gun. Around 3 ABY, following the Battle of Hoth, Denid, now thirty-five, rescued two Rebel scouts from the predators after Luke Skywalker failed to fend them off with his lightsaber. Skywalker and his companion, Leia Organa, had come to the planet seeking Denid, hoping to restore him to the throne and prevent the Empire from gaining control. Succession laws dictated that twenty years had to pass before Denid could be declared legally dead, and Anod was about to take the throne. To prevent the coronation, Denid, Jedidiah, and the two Rebels returned to Velmor in Skywalker's Y-wing starfighter.
The group arrived just in time to stop the ruling regent, Zelor, from crowning Anod king. With Organa disguised as Loren, the deceased betrothed, and Skywalker disguised as the bounty hunter Korl Marcus, Denid disrupted the ceremony, demanding it be halted until his claim to being Denid could be verified. After the royal physician, Chozz Wardle, confirmed his identity, the group was invited to a celebratory banquet in the prince's honor. On the way, Skywalker, increasingly annoyed by Jedidiah, whom he saw as a mockery of his Jedi aspirations, asked his droid C-3PO to watch over the Velmoc.
C-3PO, hoping to find treatment for Jedidiah's condition, brought him to the royal palace's 2-1B surgical droid. However, the droid determined that repairing Jedidiah's mental processes would require a miracle. Meanwhile, Zelor was plotting to eliminate Denid and his betrothed during a Mrid Hunt, hoping to retain the throne and kill Anod as well. As Zelor and his Imperial accomplice Zeta Traal began their plan, they were confronted by Skywalker, leading to a struggle. Back at the palace, Jedidiah sensed danger and, believing his friends were in trouble, rode a Ycaqt, a native creature used as a mount, to rescue them.
During the struggle with Zelor, Skywalker defeated the regent but lost track of Traal while trying to get information. The Imperial agent aimed her blaster at the young Jedi, but Jedidiah arrived before she could fire. After knocking aside Anod's bodyguard, Ergric Betos, the Velmoc saw Traal's intention and jumped from his mount to stop her. Traal fired one shot before Jedidiah tackled her, killing the would-be Jedi. Jedidiah's sacrifice allowed Skywalker to regain control, quickly knocking Traal unconscious and killing Zelor when he tried to attack the young Rebel again.
After the struggle, Skywalker mourned Jedidiah's death and carried his body back to the capital city of Den Velmor. Later, Skywalker and Organa decided to leave Velmor to return to the Rebellion, their mission accomplished with Denid now in power. However, before the Rebels jumped into hyperspace, Skywalker ejected a small rocket-powered coffin containing Jedidiah into space. As the tribute to the fallen warrior drifted through the void, Skywalker declared Jedidiah a true Jedi, one who possessed the soul of a true Jedi Knight.
Jedidiah was an honorable individual who demonstrated great loyalty to those he served. Prior to his incapacitation, he declined the opportunity to train as a Jedi Knight due to his commitment to the royal family. Even after his accident, he was willing to rush to the aid of those he considered his friends, sacrificing himself to protect Luke Skywalker, despite the young Jedi's initial hostility toward him. Jedidiah also demonstrated fearlessness, saving Denid from being killed alongside his parents during the Great Revolt. Even after their crash, Jedidiah rescued Denid from the wreckage, and his pursuit of supplies to sustain Denid ultimately led to his brain damage.
Skywalker initially viewed Jedidiah as a grotesque parody of a real Jedi Knight. He wore tattered clothing intended to resemble a Jedi's attire and wielded a wooden stick as a substitute for a lightsaber. The brain-damaged Velmoc appeared to Skywalker as a mockery, leading the aspiring Jedi to initially dismiss him. It was only after Jedidiah's death that Skywalker recognized him as a tragic figure, expressing admiration for the Velmoc and even declaring him the "Last Jedi."
Jedidiah was a creation of Mike W. Barr for the Marvel Star Wars comic series, specifically Star Wars (1977) 49. The character met his demise in the same issue and was not referenced again in the Marvel comics. Jedidiah remained unmentioned for over two decades until Wizards of the Coast referenced him in their online supplement, Velmor: Royalty and Rebellion. This article only mentioned Jedidiah's actions during the comic and did not further develop his story. The cover of Star Wars 49 depicted Jedidiah in green, but this may have been an artistic choice, as Denid was also depicted with a green tinge.