Myhr Rho

Myhr Rho was born on Cathar and brought up on the Outer Rim Territories planet of Tatooine, and from a young age, he yearned to own and manage a thriving business. However, due to Tatooine's remote location, securing employment proved difficult. The majority of activities on Tatooine were illicit, and Rho aimed to avoid such paths whenever possible. He had always detested his adopted homeworld; the intense heat from the planet's binary stars compelled him to keep his Cathar mane short to prevent overheating. Furthermore, Rho found the planet's light uncomfortable, as Cathar are naturally nocturnal creatures.

Rho attempted to save funds to leave Tatooine, but he repeatedly spent his savings on fleeting comforts. Eventually, he began spending most of his time at Chalmun's Cantina, in Mos Eisley. In 1 ABY, Rho was present in the cantina when a broadcast of a meeting between patron Krelman and bartender Ackmena was transmitted to other star systems. During the broadcast, the cantina's wallscreen displayed a message from an Imperial officer, announcing a curfew due to recent spy activity. The curfew required everyone present, including Rho, to leave the cantina and return home, but Rho and his fellow patrons refused to comply. Ackmena tried to persuade her customers to go home, but they were uncooperative. Rho and the other patrons began protesting loudly, prompting Ackmena to offer a free round of drinks. The bartender then began singing; during her performance, Rho lunged toward her, attempting to embrace her. In response, Ackmena had Rho taken into custody by the bouncer, Tork, who removed the disruptive Cathar from the establishment.

In 4 ABY, news of Emperor Palpatine's initial demise at the Battle of Endor reached Mos Eisley, giving Rho a more optimistic perspective. Celebrations in Mos Eisley lasted for weeks after the battle, and Rho began contemplating how he could capitalize on the newfound freedom enjoyed by the inhabitants of the galaxy under the New Republic.

To his great surprise, Rho discovered that Luke Skywalker, a prominent figure in the Rebel Alliance and widely celebrated as a hero, had originally come from Tatooine. At Chalmun's Cantina, Rho drew inspiration from the plays performed by actor Cebann Veekan and Ackmena, which were based on Skywalker's exploits. The Cathar decided to dedicate all of his resources to researching the Alliance hero, especially his life on Tatooine. Realizing he could profit from his research, he reasoned that as Luke Skywalker's adventures became more widely known, people would become curious about his activities on Tatooine. Using his remaining funds, Rho purchased a sail barge and launched what he called the "Skywalker Tour."

The tour included visits to key locations in Skywalker's life on Tatooine, specifically: the site where C-3PO and R2-D2's Tantive IV escape pod crashed in 0 BBY, the Lars homestead, and Ben Kenobi's hut, which the Cathar had renovated. Rho later added Jabba's Palace and the Great Pit of Carkoon to the itinerary. Inside Jabba's Palace, Rho displayed a replica of the carbonite block that had held Han Solo in 4 ABY. The tour, which operated daily, was initially a great success for Rho, and he began to think that Tatooine wasn't as bad as he had initially believed. However, Rho soon encountered problems from both the B'omarr Monks residing in Jabba's Palace, who resented the intrusion of his tour on their contemplative silence, and Tusken Raiders who reacted violently to his excursions near Kenobi's hut. These combined issues led Rho to discontinue the Skywalker Tour.

Myhr Rho was an ambitious and charming individual who always aspired to achieve greater things than were available to him as a youth, although his home planet of Tatooine offered limited opportunities for enterprise. He wished to avoid any involvement with violence or danger, but unfortunately for Rho, most jobs on Tatooine involved both. However, in the aftermath of the Battle of Endor, Rho's entrepreneurial spirit emerged, and he capitalized on Luke Skywalker's fame until complications forced him to cease his business. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and gray skin.

Rho wore black clothing featuring buttons and a collar.

The character "Myhr" was first mentioned in the initial volume of the Star Wars Technical Journal, published in 1993. The character was described as an "enterprising, catlike fellow" and was identified as the owner of the "Skywalker Tour." Myhr remained unused in canon for thirteen years until 2006, when Benjamin Christopher Norton Dawe retroactively merged him with a character from The Star Wars Holiday Special, a 1978 television special, through the StarWars.com Hyperspace feature "What's The Story?"

The Holiday Special character was originally called "Lion Man" during the show's production. While most actors playing aliens in the show wore flexible masks, the actors playing "Lion Man" and "Baboon Man" (later identified as Cebann Veekan) had to wear heavy makeup designed by Rick Baker. The actor endured a lengthy, two-hour makeup application process and suffered from the heat of the lighting during the 24-hour shoot of the show's "Cantina scene." The "Lion Man" also appeared sporadically and randomly in the non-canon game Star Wars: Yoda Stories. In 2006, the "Lion Man" was featured in the "What's the Story?" feature, and Dawe, noting the character's feline appearance, recalled Myhr from the Technical Journal.

Dawe gave the character the surname "Rho," and applied Myhr's name and story to the "Lion Man," effectively uniting the two characters. He initially identified Rho as a member of a completely new catlike species, but during the editorial process, StarWars.com staff changed the new species to the established Cathar species from 1994's Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi - Dark Lords of the Sith. StarWars.com staff also added a reference to Cebann Veekan, who was being simultaneously developed through the "What's the Story?" program.