Lorn Pavan

During the final years of the Galactic Republic, Lorn Pavan, a male Human, held the position of business affairs clerk at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, the capital world of the Republic. In 39 BBY, he and his wife, Siena, celebrated the birth of their son, whom they named Jax. Pavan remained employed at the Temple until Jax reached the age of two, at which point the Jedi recognized the Force potential within the young child. Pavan consented to his son's training by the Jedi. Subsequently, the Jedi terminated Pavan's employment, citing their core philosophy that Jedi, especially Younglings like Jax, should not form attachments. Pavan was incensed by the loss of his job, but was powerless to change the Jedi's decision. Feeling wronged, he developed a deep-seated resentment towards the Jedi, which would persist for much of his life. Around the time of his dismissal, his wife left him.

Pavan then became an information broker, struggling to earn a living and make money. In 37 BBY, he encountered a protocol droid named I-5YQ in a junk dealer's shop. After activating the droid and hearing his story—he had been owned by a wealthy family, whose spoiled children frequently ordered him to jump off the roof for entertainment—Pavan purchased him. He began extensively modifying the droid, enabling him to think and act with greater independence. Before long, the droid began to exhibit sentient characteristics, and Pavan considered him a friend and an equal.

In 32 BBY, Pavan and I-5 continued to operate in the underlevels of Coruscant. They struggled to make ends meet, and Pavan possessed very few belongings. That year, they had a meeting with the Toydarian businessman Zippa. Zippa possessed an object that he claimed to be a Jedi holocron, which he offered to sell to the Human for 20,000 credits. However, when a skeptical Pavan replied that there was no way of telling whether it was authentic or not, as it could only be accessed by a Force-sensitive, Zippa sarcastically asked if Pavan would be to able to use the Force to open the holocron. The Human snapped at this remark, threatening Zippa and warning him to never mention the Jedi to him again. After some hassling, the two settled on a price of 12,000 for the holocron.

However, when Pavan handed over the credits, Zippa withheld the holocron, while his Gamorrean bodyguard, Bilk held the two at bay with a blaster, enabling the Toydarian to flee with both the money and the prize. Before he left, Zippa warned Pavan that anyone who threatened him would die, and left his bodyguard behind to fulfill his warning. However, I-5 let loose a deafening scream from his vocabulator, causing the Gamorrean to drop the blaster in pain. The droid caught the weapon and shot Bilk, killing him and allowing the two to leave. Though he had survived, Pavan was furious for losing both the credits—most of his remaining savings—and the holocron. Determined to forget his troubles, at least temporarily, he headed for the Green Glowstone Tavern, and proceeded to get drunk on Johrian whiskey. After becoming intoxicated, Pavan stumbled out of the bar, and was helped home to his one room apartment by I-5. The next morning, the droid informed Pavan that he had two holomessages. One was from Yanth, a Hutt crime lord who had planned to buy the Jedi holocron from Pavan, and now was growing tired of waiting for the Human. The second message was from a Neimoidian named Hath Monchar, who mentioned that he had a valuable commodity that he believed Pavan might be interested in. He also gave a time and a place for the two to meet. As Pavan now possessed a mere 17 decicreds, he decided to meet with Monchar.

Pavan and I-5 convened with Monchar and his Trandoshan bodyguard, Gorth, at the Dewback Inn. Monchar informed Pavan that he had a holocron with information on an impending blockade of a planet. Furthermore, this blockade was to be directed by the Sith. Aware that there were many who would pay a great deal for this information, Pavan was interested in buying it. However, Monchar demanded 500,000 credits for the holocron, and refused to negotiate. He informed Pavan that he should meet him at Monchar's cubicle in an hour with the funds. Though Pavan did not have the necessary sum, he agreed to meet Monchar when the Neimoidian threatened to sell the holocron to someone else if Pavan could not come up with the required sum in the time limit. Monchar and Gorth then headed to Monchar's apartment, leaving Pavan and I-5 to determine how to come up with half a million credits in one hour.

The two brainstormed several possible solutions, such as winning big in sabacc, although I-5 convinced his partner that such options were not feasible. The only viable choice, the droid said, was bank fraud. Pavan was stunned by this suggestion, and the droid began to explain his idea. I-5 was confident that he could slice into a bank, and alter Pavan's credit tab so that, for a short while, at least, it would display him as having 500,000 credits in his account. Though he would not actually possess the money, the Neimoidian would believe that he did, and Pavan would be able to purchase the holocron, while actually leaving Monchar empty-handed. Although both knew that the plan was extremely risky, Pavan agreed to it, seeing the scheme as the only way by which he could "gain" half a million credits in time to buy the holocron. The two would then sell the holocron for a large sum and flee the planet, hopefully ahead of bank officials.

The two then located a dataport, and I-5 successfully made the transfer. The droid estimated that it would be an hour and 40 minutes before bank officials discovered the fraud, meaning that the two had a small window to collect the holocron and flee the planet. The two headed to Monchar's cubicle, and I-5 waited outside while Pavan went to speak to the Neimoidian and receive the holocron. As he neared Monchar's room in the building, the Human was struck by a sudden shockwave from an explosion in Monchar's room, knocking him unconscious for a moment. When he awoke, he noticed several corpses nearby. One of them, Pavan realized, was Monchar's. Glancing in the Neimoidian's burnt and blackened apartment, he noticed the holocron laying in an open safe. Pavan quickly grabbed it and then fled the building.

Outside, he met I-5 and explained what had happened as the two hurried away from the building. Though unsure of what exactly had caused the explosion and killed the people there—evidently Monchar and his bodyguards—he agreed with I-5's advice that they quickly sell the holocron to Yanth and get off-planet. As the duo was walking away from the building, Pavan suddenly had a realization—the wounds had been cauterized, and there was no blood from the lacerations. He knew that the only weapon capable of doing such was a lightsaber, and that no Jedi would have violently killed in that manner. Thus, Pavan felt, a Sith had to have been responsible, even though he had learned that the Sith Order had supposedly been wiped out a millennia ago. Though I-5 attempted to convince his friend otherwise, Pavan was sure that a Sith was the cause of the brutal killings. He intended to get off-planet, and started to throw the holocron away before he was stopped by the droid. I-5 managed to persuade Pavan to keep the holocron, and sell it to Yanth, after which they could flee Coruscant. The two then met with the Hutt in his underground headquarters. There, Pavan explained that the holocron revealed details of an impending invasion to be led by the Sith. When Yanth questioned why he had not taken this to the Jedi, Pavan—reluctant to explain his personal reasons for disliking the Jedi Order—simply replied that he suspected that they would use a mind trick to force him to hand over the holocron for free. Yanth then inspected the holocron, and agreed to buy it for one million credits.

Just as Yanth handed over the credits, a Zabrak in a hooded cloak with a red lightsaber stepped through the door. Pavan was instantly terrified by the man, recognizing him as a Sith Lord. The Human narrowly avoided being decapitated, and then fled along with I-5 while the Sith slaughtered Yanth and his bodyguards. The two escaped to the club called the Tusken Oasis that was located above Yanth's basement headquarters, and fled out into the streets, the Sith Lord not far behind them. Just as he was catching up to the duo, they were saved by a pair of Jedi in an airspeeder who had sensed a disturbance in the Force when the Sith had killed the Hutt and his guards. Pavan and I-5 quickly boarded the airspeeder, although the Zabrak was able to damage the craft's repulsorlifts, preventing them from ascending to safety high above. Though Pavan was glad to have escaped from the Sith, his enthusiasm was tempered by two things—the realization that the hated Jedi had saved him, and that the Sith was now pursuing them on a speeder.

The two explained to the Jedi why they were being pursued. Realizing that the Zabrak Sith was catching up, the Jedi Master, Anoon Bondara, jumped out of the speeder, landing on the Sith's speeder bike. The two then jumped to a nearby platform, and started a fast-paced duel. Meanwhile, the Jedi's Padawan, Darsha Assant, turned the speeder around, determined to rescue her Master. Pavan and I-5 pleaded with her to make her Master's sacrifice meaningful, but she remained resolute. Just as their speeder neared the platform, Bondara, recognizing that he was going to lose the duel, plunged his lightsaber into the Sith's speeder, causing its power core to explode. The platform collapsed, although the Sith escaped, while the speeder crashed, knocking the Humans unconscious. I-5 dragged Assant and Pavan out of the speeder before it exploded, and guarded them until they awoke. The three headed through a service conduit, intending to head back to the Jedi Temple. The trio traveled for a while, before they were abruptly attacked and knocked unconscious by Cthons, a group of feral, mutated beings that fed on meat—even Humans. When Pavan awoke a short time later, he found the creatures closing in on him, and his screams awoke Assant. Pavan told her to activate I-5, which she was able to do through the Force. The droid then let loose a deafening screech, which caused the Cthons, who relied on their hearing rather than sight, to flee in pain. The three then quickly fled.

As the trio headed back to the Jedi Temple, traveling through the underground, Pavan thought of ways he could avoid having to meet with the Jedi Council, whom he despised. He planned to flee to a spaceport instead of going to the Temple, and there, he and I-5 would book passage on a ship, possibly one owned by Tuden Sal, a Black Sun operative who owed Pavan a favor. From there, he planned to head to a far-away world like Tatooine, where he figured they would be safe from the Sith. However, he did have misgivings about abandoning Assant, as he found, much to his surprise, that he was beginning to like her. As he was lost in thought, the group came to a large drop-off. However, a nearby bridge—made of a sticky string-like substance and planks laid on top—stretched across the chasm, and seeing no other way across, the trio began to walk over it.

As the three crossed over the bridge, Assant noticed that the Sith had caught up to them, and was at the edge of the bridge behind them. However, in front of them was a taozin—a large, carnivorous invertebrate that could not be sensed through the Force, and had evidently created the bridge with a sticky substance it produced through its mouth. The trio attacked it, but quickly realized that they could not harm it. However, they remained unable to flee, as the Sith was behind them. As they slowly retreated, I-5 and Pavan removed the planks from the bridge. Assant then cut one of ropes that made up the bridge, and the three grabbed on, causing them to swing past the taozin, safe from danger. They then exited the tunnel.

Outside, the trio encountered several members of the Raptors, a gang Assant had tussled with earlier. The gangsters threatened them, only to be met with insults from Pavan, causing them to attack. The trio quickly defeated them, and then took one of the gang members, who they termed "Green Hair," with them to lead them to the upper levels. Though the thug attempted to use a mechanical turret to kill them, they thwarted him, and with the aid of a mind trick, Assant convinced him to lead them to the Temple. He took them to a large tunnel with a ladder stretching upward. The group climbed up the ladder, finally making it to the top. However, when they opened the door to leave the access pipe and finally arrive at the upper levels, they found their way blocked. The Sith Lord was waiting for them.

Assant Force pushed I-5 and Pavan into a carbon-freezing chamber next to the exit, using the Force to lock them in, while she attacked the Sith. Pavan was stunned, and tried to break out to help her. However, I-5 knew what she had intended, and refused to let Pavan exit. He convinced him to make Assant's sacrifice meaningful, and then told Pavan that he could be frozen in carbonite, allowing him to escape the Zabrak's wrath. Pavan was successfully frozen; meanwhile, Assant continued to duel the Sith Lord. Aware that she could not win against a superior opponent, she sacrificed herself, detonating several barrels of explosive fuel that had been sitting nearby. The explosion vaporized Assant and her surroundings; however, the Sith escaped. The carbon freezing chamber, with I-5 and Pavan, also remained intact, allowing the two to survive.

I-5 then unfroze Pavan. When the Human came to, the droid explained what had happened, and that Tuden Sal was coming to give them a ride and take them to safety on another planet. As the droid reminded Pavan of the events that had taken place mere minutes ago, the Human felt a deep sense of loss and sadness upon concluding that Assant had died. He then realized that he had harbored feelings for her, and that the two had come to mean something to each other in a short time.

Shortly after this, Tuden Sal arrived in a skycar. As he took them to his ship, Pavan and I-5 noticed a figure below them—the Sith. He had survived, and remained unaware that Pavan had also lived. Pavan decided to follow the Sith, and avenge Assant. However, Pavan would not let I-5 accompany him, telling him that he should go to the Jedi Temple, so that there would be a backup plan in case the Sith won. Before the two parted ways, Pavan had I-5 make a brief recording of him explaining why he was going after the Sith. The message was meant for Jax, so that if Lorn Pavan was killed, his son would know why he had died. Pavan also wanted his son to know that he loved him, and wanted Jax to be proud of him. I-5 then gave his friend a bit of taozin skin to make him invisible to the Force, and the two split up, with Pavan telling Tuden Sal to deliver the droid to the Jedi Temple.

Pavan boarded the ship Sal had obtained for him—an ARE Thixian 7—and he pursued the Zabrak, who was in his own ship. He was able to follow him to a space station that was in orbit of the planet without being noticed, and then he landed his ship in the hangar. He succeeded in sneaking up on the Sith in the station, and fired two stun shots into his back. However, just as he took the holocron from the Zabrak, the Sith Lord awoke, and attacked, slicing off Pavan's right hand. Stunned, the Corellian fled, managing to make it to another corridor and lock the door before the Zabrak could follow him.

Nonetheless, the Sith pursued Pavan, and used his lightsaber to cut through the hatch. Motivated by fear, Pavan ran for his life, scrambling upwards, until he found himself in a large solarium with several guards, and the senator from Naboo, Palpatine. Pavan recognized Palpatine from descriptions from the jedi he had worked it. Having heard that Palpatine had a reputation for integrity and practicality, he handed him the holocron, informing Palpatine that it contained information vital to the Jedi Order. Palpatine promised to deliver it to them, and summoned aid, before Pavan collapsed from exhaustion.

Palpatine's assistants Kinman Doriana and Sate Pestage escorted Pavan away to receive medical attention and they then settled him into the suite of a comfortable hotel, to recover. An artificial limb was ordered for Pavan and several days later, shortly before the limb was due to be attached to Pavan's forearm, he awoke from his slumber, convinced that he was finally safe and had at last won. Palpatine had given him the option of moving to a world on the Outer Rim or staying on Coruscant. Either way, the bank fraud charges would be dropped, and Pavan would be able to live in peace with I-5. The Human was ready to start a new life. Though he would miss Assant, he was determined to begin his life anew, most likely by staying on Coruscant and attempting to meet Jax. However, his dreams were shattered when he opened the door to venture outside. There stood the Zabrak Sith.

Pavan was stunned, but the feeling of horror quickly faded, to be replaced by one of peace and acceptance. Having spent the past several days being chased by a deadly assassin, with his life on the line at every moment, he was tired of running. Furthermore, he believed that he had accomplished his objective, by delivering the holocron to the Jedi. His last thought before the Sith granted him a quick death was of his son, Jax.

Lorn Pavan, a Human male, initially served as a business clerk at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant during the closing era of the Galactic Republic, before his transition to the role of an information broker. He and his wife Siena celebrated the birth of their son, Jax, in 39 BBY, who was later identified by the Jedi as being Force-sensitive. Following Pavan's approval for his son to be trained by the Jedi Order, he faced termination from his position, due to the Jedi's core belief against forming attachments. Shortly after, his wife left him, compelling Pavan to become an information dealer within the underlevels of Coruscant. In 37 BBY, Pavan encountered the droid I-5YQ, whom he took into his care. He implemented significant alterations to I-5, which led to the droid's capacity for independent thought and the development of a form of sentience. Pavan regarded him as a friend and treated him as an equal.

In 32 BBY, Pavan became the target of a Zabrak Sith Lord, who aimed to retrieve a holocron containing critical information and to kill anyone aware of its existence. Having made an attempt to acquire the holocron, Pavan found himself being hunted. The Sith pursued Pavan, I-5, and their newfound ally, the Jedi Padawan Darsha Assant, through the depths of Coruscant. The trio desperately sought to evade the Sith and reach the Jedi Temple, but they were eventually cornered. Assant sacrificed herself to facilitate Pavan and the droid's escape. Driven by a desire to avenge Assant—for whom Pavan had begun to feel affection—he pursued the Sith, encountering him on a space station above the planet. He successfully managed to stun him and recover the holocron, but was subsequently forced to flee upon the Sith's awakening. Encountering Senator Palpatine and his guards aboard the station, Pavan finally believed he was safe, and Palpatine provided Pavan with a room on Coruscant to recuperate from the ordeal. Unbeknownst to him, Palpatine was, in fact, a Sith Lord and the master of the Zabrak. Upon learning of Pavan's escape from his apprentice, Palpatine dispatched his student to pursue Pavan, at which point the Zabrak ultimately killed him. Pavan's memory endured through his son and I-5.

During the concluding years of the Galactic Republic, the Human male named Lorn Pavan held a position as a business affairs clerk at the Jedi Temple located on Coruscant, which served as the capital of the Republic. In 39 BBY, he and his wife, Siena, welcomed the arrival of their son, whom they named Jax. Pavan continued his employment at the Temple until his son reached the age of two, at which point the Jedi recognized the Force potential that the young child possessed. Pavan agreed to allow his son to be trained by the Jedi. Subsequently, the Jedi terminated his employment, citing a fundamental principle of their philosophy that Jedi, particularly Younglings such as Jax, should refrain from forming attachments. Pavan was outraged by the loss of his job, but was unable to alter the situation. Feeling that this was unjust, he developed a strong animosity toward the Jedi, which would persist for a significant portion of his life. Around the time of his termination, his wife left him.

Pavan then transitioned into the role of an information broker, struggling to earn money. In 37 BBY, he encountered a protocol droid named I-5YQ at a junk dealer's shop. After activating the droid and hearing his story—he had been owned by a wealthy family, whose spoiled children frequently ordered him to jump off the roof for entertainment—Pavan made the decision to purchase him. He then began to implement extensive modifications to the droid, enabling it to think and act with greater autonomy. It was not long before the droid began to exhibit sentient characteristics, and Pavan regarded him as both an equal and a friend.

In 32 BBY, Pavan and I-5 were still working in the underlevels of Coruscant. They struggled to make ends meet, and Pavan possessed very few possessions. That year, they had a meeting with the Toydarian businessman Zippa. Zippa was in possession of an object that he claimed was a Jedi holocron, which he offered to sell to the Human for 20,000 credits. However, when a skeptical Pavan replied that there was no way of telling whether it was authentic or not, as it could only be accessed by a Force-sensitive, Zippa sarcastically asked if Pavan would be to able to use the Force to open the holocron. The Human snapped at this remark, threatening Zippa and warning him to never mention the Jedi to him again. After some hassling, the two settled on a price of 12,000 for the holocron.

However, when Pavan handed over the credits, Zippa withheld the holocron, while his Gamorrean bodyguard, Bilk held the two at bay with a blaster, enabling the Toydarian to flee with both the money and the prize. Before he left, Zippa warned Pavan that anyone who threatened him would die, and left his bodyguard behind to fulfill his warning. However, I-5 let loose a deafening scream from his vocabulator, causing the Gamorrean to drop the blaster in pain. The droid caught the weapon and shot Bilk, killing him and allowing the two to leave. Though he had survived, Pavan was furious for losing both the credits—most of his remaining savings—and the holocron. Determined to forget his troubles, at least temporarily, he headed for the Green Glowstone Tavern, and proceeded to get drunk on Johrian whiskey. After becoming intoxicated, Pavan stumbled out of the bar, and was helped home to his one room apartment by I-5. The next morning, the droid informed Pavan that he had two holomessages. One was from Yanth, a Hutt crime lord who had planned to buy the Jedi holocron from Pavan, and now was growing tired of waiting for the Human. The second message was from a Neimoidian

Pavan's demise proved futile, as the Jedi Temple never received the holocron. The truth was that Palpatine, the recipient of the holocron from Pavan, secretly operated as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious. As Sidious, Palpatine was the Master of the Zabrak Sith and the architect of the impending blockade targeting Naboo. Darth Plagueis, Palpatine's own mentor, attributed Pavan's success in delivering the holocron to Sidious, despite Maul's failure, to the will of the dark side.

Simultaneously, instead of delivering I-5 to the Jedi as promised, Sal sold him to a smuggler to settle his debts. The droid's memory was wiped, but I-5 managed to prevent its permanent erasure. However, it wasn't until 19 BBY that his memory was fully restored. Upon regaining his awareness, he understood the events of 13 years prior, including Lorn Pavan's mission for him: to safeguard and watch over his son. Consequently, I-5 and his companion, the Sullustan reporter Den Dhur, embarked on a journey to Coruscant.

Upon their arrival, they discovered that the Jedi had been nearly annihilated during the Great Jedi Purge, an event where Palpatine and his final Sith apprentice, Darth Vader, transformed the Republic into the Galactic Empire and launched an assault on the Jedi, almost wiping out the entire Order. Dhur and I-5 remained on Coruscant, hoping to locate Jax Pavan. Eventually, they found him, and despite Pavan's initial reluctance, he allowed Dhur and I-5 to stay. Over time, he befriended them, and I-5 shared the story of the father he never knew.

In 18 BBY, while being pursued by Vader and feeling particularly lost, Pavan expressed to I-5 his wish to speak with his father, even once, for guidance. In response, I-5 activated the holographic message that Lorn Pavan had recorded shortly before pursuing the Zabrak Sith. Profoundly moved by the message, Pavan wept in honor of the father he had never known, believing him to have died a hero.

Following his dismissal after entrusting his son to the Jedi Order, Pavan harbored a deep-seated hatred for the Jedi that persisted until his death. His termination, which he perceived as unjust, fostered a cynical worldview, and he blamed the Jedi for his misfortunes. The Human believed them to be avaricious opportunists and remained resolute in his negative opinion, initially disliking Assant. However, after surviving life-threatening situations together, they began to develop feelings for each other. These emotions caused Pavan internal conflict and guilt, as he had vowed never to forgive the Jedi. Despite attempting to deny his feelings for Assant, he eventually acknowledged his self-deception and admitted his affection for her.

Her passing brought him immense sorrow and anger. Her sacrifice inspired him to pursue the Sith, seeking to avenge Assant. Fully aware of the potential for death, Pavan remained determined to avenge Assant and eliminate the Sith, whom he believed deserved to die. Although his efforts to stop the Sith ultimately failed, resulting in his own death, he died at peace with himself, having finally found closure.

Lorn Pavan frequently contemplated his son Jax, wondering about his well-being as a Jedi and regretting his decision to surrender him to the Order. His dismissal left him heartbroken, as it prevented him from seeing his son. Despite years of separation, Pavan cared deeply for Jax and requested that I-5 watch over him in case he couldn't. He wanted Jax to know of his love and to be proud of him, a sentiment conveyed in his holographic message for his son.

Pavan believed that droids were capable of independent thought and deserved to be treated as equals, not mere servants. This unconventional view often led to others questioning why he referred to I-5 as a friend rather than a servant. This belief prompted him to purchase I-5 and treat him as an equal, a conviction that only grew stronger over years of observing the droid's personality evolve.

Lorn Pavan was conceived for the 2001 novel Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter, penned by Michael Reaves. While Shadow Hunter marked the character's sole appearance in Star Wars Legends, he received mentions in the Star Wars: Coruscant Nights trilogy, also authored by Reaves. The Coruscant Nights series centered on Pavan's son, Jax Pavan, as its main protagonist.