Okadiah Garson

During the Age of the Empire, Okadiah Garson, a male human from Gorse, lived and worked. He held various positions, including foreman for a Moonglow Polychemical mining crew on Cynda, a mining moon, and the operator of The Asteroid Belt, a cantina situated in the Pits, a former mining district on Gorse. For a period of thirty years, he was employed in the mining sector of the Gorse system.

Okadiah encountered [Kanan Jarrus](/article/kanan_jarrus], a survivor of the Great Jedi Purge, a few months prior to the Gorse Conflict. Kanan had intervened in a fight at his cantina. As a token of his appreciation, Okadiah arranged for Kanan to work as a freighter pilot with Moonglow and permitted the Jedi Padawan to rent the flophouse located adjacent to The Asteroid Field. Kanan considered Okadiah to be a generous landlord due to his abundant liquor supply. Okadiah engaged Kanan to operate his vintage hoverbus, transporting miners between the Moonglow refinery in Shaketown and his cantina. Kanan grew to see Okadiah as the father he never had.

Okadiah accompanied Kanan on a business trip to Cynda aboard Kanan's freighter, the Expedient, in 11 BBY. While the Galactic Empire had designated Cynda as a mining moon, it was previously a nature preserve until Minerax Consulting issued a report asserting that the moonward side of Gorse had depleted its thorilide mining reserves. During the journey, Okadiah took a nap while Kanan navigated through the congested airspace. In his slumber, Okadiah overheard an exchange between Kanan and Captain Rae Sloane, an Imperial officer, via intercom. Okadiah learned from Kanan that the Imperial Star Destroyer Ultimatum had entered the Gorse system and destroyed the freighter Cynda Dreaming. Garson knew one of the Ithorian crew members, who was a regular at his cantina.

As the Expedient entered one of Cynda's caverns, Kanan's freighter nearly collided with another personnel shuttle. Following a heated argument between Kanan, Yelkin the Devaronian, and several other miners, Okadiah defended his friend by reminding the miners that Kanan was transporting a shipment of Baradium-357, a highly unstable explosive used for breaking up the thorilide caverns. He also encouraged the miners to be on their best behavior, as Lal Grallik, Moonglow's boss, and Count Denetrius Vidian, an Imperial efficiency expert, were inspecting the Cynda mines. To motivate his crew, Okadiah promised to host a party at his cantina to commemorate the crew of the Cynda Dreaming, even offering them transport.

After the crowd dispersed, Okadiah questioned Kanan about his apparent lack of interest in cultivating relationships. He also inquired about Kanan's nomadic lifestyle before asking if the pilot could work at The Asteroid Field that night. Kanan agreed, provided Okadiah could afford his services. They parted ways, with Kanan unloading baradium-357 from the Expedient for delivery to Lal. Okadiah's shift coincided with Count Vidian's inspection of the Cynda mines. Dissatisfied with the thorilide production rate, the Emperor had dispatched Vidian to accelerate production in the Gorse system. Thorilide was crucial to the rapidly expanding Imperial Navy as it was used to protect starships from turbolaser fire.

One of Count Vidian's initial actions was to impose an age restriction on the mining workforce on Cynda. Due to his age, Okadiah was among the miners who were laid off. Garson had a personal encounter with the cyborg industrialist when Vidian discovered him cleaning his pickaxe. Vidian grabbed the old man by the collar and dismissed him as "too old." Okadiah retorted that the Count was "too ugly." Angered by Okadiah's perceived insult about his cyborg body, Vidian tightened his grip on the miner's neck and joked about flaying him. Before Vidian could inflict any harm, Kanan intervened, pointing a blaster at the Count.

Unfazed by Kanan, Vidian dismissed the freight pilot as a gunslinger and suggested that he was the saboteur responsible for the disruptions in the mines. When Kanan demanded to know Vidian's intentions, the Count insisted that he was acting on behalf of the Emperor. Kanan warned Vidian that it would be unwise to harm someone with extensive knowledge of thorilide mining. When Vidian questioned Okadiah's usefulness due to his frailty, Kanan countered that Okadiah could mentor younger miners and contribute to Moonglow's output. Persuaded by Kanan's argument, Vidian spared Okadiah's life, citing his already busy schedule. Unbeknownst to Okadiah and Kanan, this exchange was witnessed by Hera Syndulla, a rebel operative, and Zaluna Myder, a surveillance operator.

Having retained his job and narrowly escaped death, Okadiah and his miners proceeded to Zone Forty-Two. Unbeknownst to Okadiah, Skelly, a dissident miner, planned to conduct a test bombing there. Skelly, a staunch opponent of mining on Cynda, was investigating the effects of the blast on Cynda's fragile structure. Skelly had alienated the mining establishment and lost several jobs due to his criticism of mining operations on Cynda. Despite facing trouble with the Empire for making "seditious" remarks, Skelly managed to conduct his test bombing, which created another cave-in that disrupted mining operations on Cynda. Skelly was subsequently captured by Kanan, who was angered that Skelly had endangered the lives of other miners. To avoid trouble with the Empire, Kanan handed him over to Moonglow, who planned to turn him over to the Empire. However, Skelly escaped with the help of Hera.

That night, Okadiah hosted three special visitors who would play a significant role in the upcoming Gorse Conflict: Zaluna Myder, a disillusioned surveillance operator who was delivering a sensitive data cube from her friend Hetto to the rebel Hera; Hera, who had come to meet Hetto; and Skelly, who sought Kanan's assistance in obtaining his Moonglow ID card. Having discovered that prolonged blasting activities would cause Cynda to fracture, Skelly wanted to persuade Count Vidian to cease all mining operations on the moon. Skelly had learned that Count Vidian was touring the Moonglow Polychemical facility.

Okadiah encountered Kanan, his bouncer, who had just incapacitated a miner who had come to settle an old score. Observing Kanan's bruised condition, Okadiah learned that the pilot had been involved in a fight with members of the Sarlaccs criminal gang at Philo's Fueling Station in Shaketown. Kanan told Okadiah that the fight involved a woman. Shortly after, a hooded female [Sullustan](/article/sullustan] named Zaluna Myder entered the cantina. Due to Zaluna's arrival, Okadiah mistakenly assumed that she was the woman Kanan had fought for until the pilot corrected him. While Kanan discussed a private matter with Zaluna, Okadiah entertained his other patrons with a game of sabacc.

Shortly after, Hera arrived looking for Hetto but found Zaluna, who promptly informed her about Hetto's imprisonment and secret investigation of the Empire's activities. Okadiah arrived at the cantina seeking Kanan's help but was rebuffed by both Kanan and Hera, who thought that his plan to reason with Vidian had little chance of success. Okadiah's arrival was quickly followed by a stormtrooper patrol, who were looking for the fugitive. Despite their disagreement with Skelly, Okadian and Kanan hid him from the Imperials inside a storage closet. They managed to fool the Imperials into believing that a drunken Wookiee was locked inside the closet. Unwilling to risk upsetting a Wookiee, the Imperials promptly left the cantina.

After the Imperials had left, Kanan asked Okadiah to vouch for his character to Hera. Okadiah backed his friend up by telling the Twi'lek rebel that Kanan was a fine pilot, an occasional humanitarian, a "somewhat tolerable" house guest, and a worthy spouse. When Kanan asked Okadiah about whether he had ever encountered a man named Lemuel Tharsa, Garson replied he had never encountered such a man among his mining crew. However, he suggested that Boss Lal might know the man if he had worked in the refineries or the Guild administration. However, he warned Kanan not to look at his personnel records to avoid finding out his age. Kanan and Hera then departed to recuperate for a new shift the following diurnal day.

The following day, Okadiah took a ride on the Moonglow hoverbus with Kanan driving the vehicle. Okadiah told Kanan that he had befriended Hera and they had decided to take a vacation on the planet Naboo. Knowing Hera's involvement in the rebellion, Kanan cautioned his friend that Hera was a woman with a mission. Kanan told Okadiah he was not flying bombs today but was showing Hera the sights on Gorse. In secret, Kanan was helping Hera to infiltrate the Moonglow facility in order to spy on Count Vidian, who was conducting an inspection. Okadiah and his fellow miners took a transport for their work shift on Cynda while Hera and Kanan stayed behind on Cynda.

In his absence, Kanan, Hera, and Skelly became caught up in a plot by Count Vidian to detonate Cynda in order to increase the Gorse system's thorilide production rate and to meet the Emperor's new quota. In secret, Vidian planned to destroy Cynda's thorilide crystals in order to discredit his rival Baron Lero Danthe, who was involved in surface mining operations. Since Vidian owned stakes in the comet-chasing industry, he wanted the comet-chasers to harvest the thorilide before they disintegrated within a year. After Skelly made two failed attempts to assassinate Vidian, Kanan and Hera escaped their Imperial pursuers in the hoverbus and dumped it in a quarry. There, they encountered Zaluna, who had accidentally stowed aboard the hoverbus' restroom.

After escaping their Imperial entanglement, the four rebels sought refuge at Okadiah's cantina. Upon arriving back, Okadiah was greeted by his friend Kanan. Okadiah had just received news that Moonglow's Boss Lal had died when a groundquake knocked her into a vat of xenoboric acid at the refinery. As an acquaintance of Lal, Okadiah disputed the veracity of this report and believed that she had been murdered by Count Vidian. He also added that the Empire had rerouted Moonglow's personnel transports to Calladan's field, causing a traffic jam. Okadiah had been forced to take a hovercab to The Asteroid Field.

Okadiah then told Kanan that he had just found out that the Empire had commandeered his Smoothride hoverbus to the spaceport and that someone had stolen it from there and taken it on a joyride. While pouring two glasses of alcohol, Okadiah continued that the thief had shot several stormtroopers and did a hundred thousand credits' worth of damage to the bus. Okadiah asked Kanan whether he or Hera were responsible for the damage to the hoverbus. While neither confirming or denying his responsibility, Kanan told Okadiah that someone had just deposited several credits in his safe to compensate for the damage to the bus. Okadiah seemed satisfied with Kanan's explanation and compensation and the two drank a toast in honor of the late Boss Lal.

The following day, Okadiah traveled for another work shift on Cynda. This proved to be his last work shift because Count Vidian had decided to conduct a test bombing in order to allay Captain Rae Sloane and the Imperial Navy's concerns that destroying Cynda would cause the moon's thorilide crystals to disintegrate. Okadiah witnessed several stormtroopers ordering the miners to evacuate Zone Sixty-Six before being caught up in a massive explosion that destroyed the mining facilities and killed many miners. Okadiah was crushed beneath debris and succumbed serious injuries which subsequently led to his death.

Okadiah managed to last long enough for Kanan and his companions to find him on Cynda's surface. Using Okadiah's distress beacon, they found his leg pinned under an elevator car. Kanan managed to fasten an oxygen mask around the dying old man. Hera and Kanan managed to free his legs from the wreckage but were unable to save Okadiah. Before he died, he told Kanan and Hera that the Empire was responsible for the explosion on Cynda. He also told Hera that Kanan was a good person to have around and to stick by him. Kanan and Hera buried Okadiah's body in a side grotto and covered it with rocks. To honor Okadiah's memory, Kanan and Hera resolved to stop Cynda's plot to detonate Cynda during the ensuing Gorse Conflict.

Okadiah Garson was an elderly human man with white hair and a beard. He was a frequent drinker of alcohol and drank it when someone got hurt in the mines of the mining moon Cynda, which happened nearly everyday. Unlike Kanan who preferred using physical force, Okadiah preferred to win over people by using diplomacy and persuasion to defuse conflict. Despite the rough nature of his life and his work, Okadiah had a good sense of humor and was known for his cheerful temperament even in the face of trouble. Despite his old age, Okadiah was a skilled miner who knew how to mine thorilide well. He was regarded by Kanan as a mentor for the younger miners.

The Jedi Purge survivor Kanan came to regard Okadiah as a father figure since he had never known his own, having been separated from his parents at a young age. Viewing Kanan as a fellow with nowhere to go, Okadiah took pity on the young drifter and helped him to find work in the Gorse system. Okadiah did not want to get in trouble with the Empire and was displeased when Kanan and Hera got his hoverbus into an "Imperial entanglement." Despite his differences with Kanan, Okadiah still held Kanan in high regard a fine pilot, occasional humanitarian, and a good companion for Hera. Okadiah was also well acquainted with Lal Grallik, whom he regarded as an employer that prioritized the safety of her staff, and was skeptical of the official Imperial account that her death was accidental.

Okadiah Garson first appeared as a secondary character in John Jackson Miller's 2014 novel A New Dawn, which was the first in a new line of canon novels approved by the Lucasfilm Story Group. Most of his lines are told from the point of view of Kanan Jarrus, one of the main characters.