Oron Kira

Oron Kira, a Human male hailing from the wilderness of Onderon, was born before the Great Sith War. He was raised among the Beast Riders, a group of rebels who thrived on their exile from the walled city of Iziz, known for taming Onderon's dangerous beasts. Oron was the son of Beast-Lord Modon Kira, the leader of the Beast Riders, and grandson of Drokko Kira, who was banished from Iziz for challenging the dark side-worshiping monarchy of the planet. Oron spent his formative years during the relentless war between the Beast Riders and Iziz, as his people retaliated against their exilers. Despite the ban from Iziz, Oron and his father secretly entered the city for years, trading with the political underground. On one such journey, Oron ventured into the garden of the Iziz Royal Palace, where he saw Princess Galia, the heir to Onderon's throne. It was love at first sight, and in 4000 BBY, they planned to elope. Since it was unthinkable for the Princess to marry a Beast-Lord, their plan involved Beast Riders kidnapping Galia from the palace and taking her to Kira's fortress for their wedding.

The plan was executed flawlessly, with Oron and his trusted ally, Gobee, successfully rescuing Galia and bringing her to the fortress, where the wedding began immediately. However, the ceremony was interrupted by three Jedi Knights—brothers Ulic and Cay Qel-Droma, and the Twi'lek Tott Doneeta—who arrived on tamed boma beasts. Queen Amanoa, Galia's mother, had hired the Jedi to bring her daughter back to Iziz. The Knights' initial charge was successful, with Ulic Qel-Droma managing to seize Galia in an attempted rescue. However, Galia expressed her desire to marry the Beast-Lord, and at Modon Kira's request, the Jedi lowered their weapons as Oron and Galia embraced. With the conflict between the Beast Riders and the Jedi resolved, the intruders were invited to the wedding banquet. There, Oron recounted his love story with Galia and revealed that the Onderonian monarchs were actually dark side servants. Hoping to resolve the conflict between Iziz and the Beast Riders, Ulic Qel-Droma suggested going to Iziz with Oron and Galia to seek peace with Amanoa. Although Oron was skeptical, Drokko Kira, speaking for the first time in decades, agreed with Qel-Droma and asked the Jedi to wage war against the dark side if peace talks failed. The plan was set: Oron, Galia, and the Jedi would travel to the Iziz Royal Palace in Qel-Droma's starship, the Nebulon Ranger, to negotiate with Amanoa; if unsuccessful, Modon Kira would lead the Beast Rider army against Iziz in one final battle.

However, upon reaching the Iziz Royal Palace, Amanoa rejected their peace offer. Despite Kira's threat to unleash the Beast Rider army on the city, Amanoa remained firm and, in a fit of rage, invoked the dark side power of deceased Dark Lord of the Sith Freedon Nadd upon Kira and his companions. Soon, they found themselves under attack by palace guards, overshadowed by the dark side. A blaster shot grazed Kira's arm as Galia led them to a secret passage. There, Ulic Qel-Droma realized they had left his brother, Cay, in the palace throne room and instructed Doneeta to escort Kira and Galia back to the Nebulon Ranger while he tried to save his brother. With all hope of peace lost, Kira grabbed his comlink and informed his father that the battle had begun. As the fighting intensified, Kira left Galia in Doneeta's care and joined the Beast Riders in battle. During the fighting, Gobee brought Kira a prisoner—Novar, a high-ranking minister in the Onderonian government. As Kira and Gobee mocked Novar, Amanoa summoned the dark side's power upon the Beast Rider army, filling Kira with dread and forcing him to his knees. Just when things seemed dire, Jedi Master Arca Jeth arrived in his starship, the SunGem, and shifted the advantage to the Beast Riders with the Jedi power of battle meditation. At that moment, Novar tried to kill the downed Kira with a knife, but Kira, now empowered, caught Novar's knife arm and beat the politician mercilessly. With her dark power gone, the Queen died at the battle's end, and the Beast Riders emerged victorious. With the dark side's influence gone from Iziz, Kira and Galia had their marriage consecrated under the laws of the Galactic Republic, uniting the two warring tribes of Onderon with Kira as their new king.

By 3998 BBY, Kira, in his second year as King of Onderon, faced a significant problem—the Freedon Nadd Uprising. A group of dark side followers who worshiped Freedon Nadd had rebelled against Kira's government, plunging Onderon into another civil war. That year, after a Naddist attack on the Iziz Royal Palace, Master Arca Jeth ordered the removal of Freedon Nadd and Queen Amanoa's bodies from Onderon to the moon of Dxun. Kira and Galia led the darksiders' funeral procession, attended by several Jedi, including Jeth, and legions of Iziz soldiers and Beast Riders. However, a massive groundborer emerging from beneath Iziz's streets disrupted the ceremony. Hundreds of Naddist troops, led by the lightsaber-wielding warrior Warb Null, attacked Kira's men. While some Naddist soldiers targeted Galia, Kira and his Beast Riders stood firm in her defense. Although Kira's men repelled most of the Naddist attackers, the enemy succeeded in their mission—acquiring the sarcophagi of Freedon Nadd and Queen Amanoa. With their prize, the Naddists retreated beneath Iziz in the groundborer.

In the aftermath, Galia, Ulic Qel-Droma, and Jeth met with Galia's father, former King Ommin, in his subterranean fortress to understand the dark pall over the planet. Meanwhile, Kira and the other Jedi secured the Royal Palace. However, the palace was attacked by Naddists and soon fell despite Kira's efforts. Galia and Qel-Droma returned with similar bad news, as Jeth had been captured by Naddists in Ommin's lair. Realizing the need to evacuate, Kira and Galia left for Kira's fortress beyond Iziz on a drexl warbeast, followed by the Jedi. They established operations at the Kira citadel, organizing and transporting warrior teams there. Kira and his troops soon found themselves surrounded by more Naddist forces but were aided by timely reinforcements ordered by Republic Minister of Defense Netus, including a Jedi team. Aided by Jedi Knight Nomi Sunrider's battle meditation, Kira's forces regained the advantage. Kira joined the fight alongside his Beast Rider brethren, helping them repel the Naddist attack on the fortress.

The combined Jedi, Republic, and Beast Rider forces, having repelled the Naddists at the fortress, took the fight to the enemy stronghold in Iziz. King Ommin was killed when a Jedi team attacked his subterranean fortress, Iziz was retaken, and the bodies of Freedon Nadd and Queen Amanoa were recovered. With the Freedon Nadd Uprising suppressed, Kira and Galia placed Iziz under martial law and evacuated all offworlders to their homeworlds. The sarcophagi of Nadd and Amanoa, along with the newly deceased King Ommin, were finally laid to rest in a tomb on Dxun, a ceremony attended by both Kira and Galia.

A year following 3997 BBY, the Jedi were confronted with yet another menace emanating from the dark side. A Sith cult, identified as the Krath, seized control within the Empress Teta system and launched an assault on a Jedi gathering situated on Deneba, resulting in the tragic demise of Master Arca Jeth. Ulic Qel-Droma infiltrated the Krath as an undercover operative, but the Jedi, realizing he was dangerously close to succumbing to the dark side, decided to assemble a team to attack the Empress Tetan capital, Cinnagar, with the aim of rescuing him. Kira and the Beast Riders were summoned to join the Jedi's combat force, and the King of Onderon, accompanied by a Beast Rider army, journeyed to Ossus to rendezvous with them. As the Jedi were still in the planning stages, Kira proposed an idea: deploying the Jedi on warbeasts, enabling them to swiftly reach the Krath palace and extract Qel-Droma more efficiently. Subsequently, Kira and the Beast Rider forces traveled to Cinnagar, bringing their warbeasts along. The battle commenced, with Kira and the Beast Riders engaging the Krath forces in ground combat. Despite Ulic Qel-Droma's resistance to the Jedi's attempts to retrieve him, his brother, Cay, forcibly extracted Ulic from the palace and requested Kira to retrieve the errant Knight. However, before Kira could reach Ulic on his warbeast, Nomi Sunrider commanded them to release Ulic, asserting that it was not the Jedi way to take him against his will. With their rescue attempts thwarted, Kira returned to Onderon.

By 3996 BBY, the galaxy was embroiled in widespread conflict. Ulic Qel-Droma, now the Sith apprentice under Dark Lord Exar Kun, spearheaded a Sith army in opposition to the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order. Despite the Sith's initial successes in what would later be known as the Great Sith War, the Republic managed to regain the upper hand in the conflict. Towards the end of the war, Mandalorian forces loyal to the Sith, led by Mandalore the Indomitable, launched an attack on Onderon, compelling Kira to return to the battlefield once more. Kira and Galia were present at the Royal Palace when the Mandalorian Basilisk war droids launched a surprise attack on Iziz, prompting the King of Onderon to take immediate action, mounting his drexl warbeast and summoning the Beast Rider armies to defend the city. Kira also requested reinforcements from the Republic, and the Beast Riders were tasked with withstanding the formidable Mandalorian strike force until assistance arrived on the planet. Kira was at the forefront of the battle, as the primitive Beast Rider technology proved to be a match for the Mandalorian war droids. Eventually, a Republic fleet commanded by Captain Orley Vanicus arrived to support the Beast Riders. Although the Mandalore refused to yield, Kira and his allies gained a decisive advantage, forcing the invaders to retreat to the moon Dxun. Mandalore the Indomitable met his demise at the hands of the moon's hostile creatures, and the remaining Mandalorian forces scattered. Kira successfully defended his homeworld, and the Republic ultimately emerged victorious in the Great Sith War.

By the time their descendant Talia ruled as queen, approximately 3951 BBY, the stories of Kira and Galia's lives were frequently discussed among the inhabitants of Iziz. Kira's descendants maintained control of the Onderonian throne for millennia, until at least 11 ABY, when a man named after Kira's father, Modon, held the title of king.

Oron Kira was known as a passionate warrior with a benevolent heart, dedicating himself to liberating Iziz. His love for his wife, Galia, was profound, motivating him to undertake a perilous mission into the Iziz Royal Palace to marry her. Despite lacking Force-sensitivity, Kira harbored a deep aversion to the dark side and recognized its dangers, drawing from the history of Freedon Nadd's subjugation of Onderon and his own grandfather's exile from Iziz for opposing the dark side regime. Although a seasoned warrior, Kira was committed to establishing peace on his home planet, aiming to end the Beast Wars that had plagued Onderon for years. However, by 4000 BBY, Kira's optimism about achieving peace on Onderon had waned.

Kira possessed remarkable courage, demonstrated by his personal involvement in the mission to rescue Galia from the Iziz Royal Palace and his forceful demand for peace from Queen Amanoa, known for her mastery of the dark side. Even after ascending to the Onderonian throne, Kira readily joined battles on the front lines, confronting darksiders in the Freedon Nadd Uprising, the Krath on Empress Teta, and defending his homeworld against the formidable Mandalorians during the Great Sith War. As king, Kira remained vigilant against any threats to his planet, ensuring that his Beast Rider army was constantly prepared.

Oron Kira, a man of imposing stature, was a highly skilled warrior. He excelled in infiltration and stealth, as evidenced by his successful raid on the Iziz Royal Palace, where he and Gobee evaded the palace's formidable defenses and rescued Princess Galia. Kira was also proficient in hand-to-hand combat, a skill he demonstrated when he intercepted Novar's knife arm from a prone position and defeated his attacker decisively during the final battle of the Beast Wars. As a Beast Rider, Kira was adept at riding drexl warbeasts, skillfully evading blaster fire from his mount's back during the Great Sith War. Furthermore, the King of Onderon was a capable tactician, playing a crucial role in developing the Beast Rider battle strategy during the siege of Iziz and the Jedi strategy in the skirmish on Empress Teta.

Oron Kira made his debut in Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi – Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon, the inaugural story arc of the Tales of the Jedi comic book series, authored by Tom Veitch and published in 1993. Kira subsequently became a significant character in the Tales of the Jedi series, appearing in the Freedon Nadd Uprising, Dark Lords of the Sith, and The Sith War arcs. Kira also played a prominent role in the Tales of the Jedi audio drama, where he was voiced by Aden Gillet. Throughout his appearances in the Tales of the Jedi comics, Kira was illustrated by four different artists: Chris Gossett, Tony Akins, Art Wetherell, and Dario Carrasco, Jr. Kira was referenced in numerous other sources and reference books, including the video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, the Tales of the Jedi Companion, The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons, The New Essential Chronology, and Galaxy at War.

As both the Tales of the Jedi audio drama and the Tales of the Jedi: Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon comic depicted the events of the final battle of the Beast Wars and Kira's ascension to the Onderonian throne, discrepancies exist between the two sources that remain unresolved. In the audio version, Modon Kira was absent, resulting in many of his lines being attributed to Oron Kira. This led to a different portrayal of Kira and Galia's marriage and the siege of Iziz. For the purpose of this article, in instances where the two sources diverge, the Tales of the Jedi: Ulic Qel-Droma and the Beast Wars of Onderon comic is regarded as the more authoritative source.