Madam Rhoden, also known as Herr Rhoden, was the spouse of Clode Rhoden, who governed Yorn Skot. Discontented with her husband, she engaged in a romantic relationship with Buck, her fitness instructor and a member of the radical environmentalist organization Green Forge. With Buck's help, Madam Rhoden managed to sneak a core bomb onto the Aurorient Express luxury cruise ship, intending to assassinate her husband. However, Clode Rhoden had anticipated her plan and had the explosive device removed from her suite. The Aurorient Express was evacuated due to a combination of factors: a scheme by pressure pirates, an apparent navigational error, and the realization that a core bomb was somewhere on board.
While heading towards her escape pod, Madam Rhoden was intercepted by Saul Moegantz, one of her husband's creditors, who presented her with an offer. She joined him in his escape pod to discuss the proposition, narrowly avoiding a deadly trap set by her husband. Clode Rhoden had secretly placed the core bomb in the escape pod intended for his wife. Surviving this assassination attempt, Madam Rhoden allied herself with Moegantz to completely ruin her husband. During a confrontation with Clode on one of the evacuation vessels, she declared her intention to divorce him and claim a significant portion of his assets, while Moegantz would seize Clode's Yorn Skot mining station as repayment for the debt owed to him.
The planetary leader of Yorn Skot was Madam Rhoden's husband, Clode Rhoden. Situated outside the jurisdiction of the Galactic Republic, Yorn Skot was a tibanna gas-producing world. Alongside tibanna gas extraction at the mining facility, the planet also fostered a high-end cruise industry. Clode's mining operations were controversial, and the eco-terrorist group Green Forge aimed to shut down the mining operation as part of their agenda.
To further their cause, Buck, a Green Forge operative, secured a position as Madam Rhoden's personal trainer and seduced her. Rhoden was just one of a series of businessmen's wives that Buck had used in his campaign to assassinate their husbands. Under Buck's influence, Madam Rhoden consented to aid him in his plot to murder Clode Rhoden. Together, they smuggled a core bomb aboard the Aurorient Express cruise ship, planning to use it to destroy the Yorn Skot Mining Station with Clode on board. Madam Rhoden would then collect the substantial insurance payout on the station and share the wealth with Buck.
The Tiffany Deck suite belonging to Madam Rhoden housed the core bomb, concealed within a suitcase. Paranoid about being discovered, she instructed the vessel's captain to prohibit anyone from entering her room. When a staff member arrived with room service, she became enraged and personally confronted the captain. However, their argument was interrupted by Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi.
The Aurorient Express was descending into the gas giant's depths and unresponsive to external communications. The two Jedi had infiltrated the cruise liner through the dining hall window to investigate. The captain provided a false explanation for the liner's predicament, knowing full well about the course alteration, although he was unaware of the swarm of Fastlatch-class defense droids covering the ship's exterior and breaching the hull.
Madam Rhoden confronted the Jedi intruders, demanding to know their purpose, as her husband had forbidden Jedi from traveling on the vessel. Through the Force, Qui-Gon Jinn suggested that she enjoy a drink by the ship's pool, and she complied. Before departing, she instructed the captain to contact her upon hearing from her husband. En route to the pool, she observed the two Jedi hurrying through the corridors. Shaking off the compulsion she was under, she instructed Buck to investigate the Jedi's activities.
Buck trailed the Jedi to a hull breach, where they and other crew members were confronting Podlong Foahl, a Givin crew member. Foahl had pledged allegiance to a group of pressure pirates and had smuggled the Fastlatch security droids aboard in Lot 44C. While Foahl was arguing with the Jedi, Buck noticed a core bomb detonator in his hand and shouted "Core bomb!" Upon hearing Buck's exclamation, Chief Purser Waverton shot Foahl, who fell through the hull breach into the depths of Yorn Skot.
The Jedi questioned Buck about his observation, and Buck insisted he had seen a core bomb detonator. Further questioning by Obi-Wan Kenobi revealed his affiliation with Green Forge. Madam Rhoden was also present, along with wealthy passenger Saul Moegantz, whose survapierre shipment in Lot 44C had been secretly replaced by the security droids. When the Jedi questioned why pirates would want to destroy the vessel, Moegantz suggested insurance fraud as a possible motive and asked Madam Rhoden for her opinion. She stated that she left business matters to her husband. Moegantz then informed Madam Rhoden that he would be taking over the Yorn Skot Mining Station as collateral for a debt and made her a proposition, which she scornfully rejected.
Back in their suite, Madam Rhoden reprimanded Buck for revealing too much. Buck assured her that the Jedi would locate the other bomb, ensuring their safety. Meanwhile, the Jedi utilized the ship's vapor samplers to scan for traces of accellerite and magnopium ferrocongregate to locate the core bomb. The highest readings originated from Madam Rhoden's suite.
Due to the unaccounted core bomb and the ship's continued descent, an evacuation was ordered. Madam Rhoden and Buck were still packing her extensive wardrobe when the Jedi and ship security arrived to search her room. Panicked, Rhoden ordered Buck to attack, but Obi-Wan Kenobi easily stunned him with a single blow. The two Jedi discovered the suitcase where Buck's core bomb had been stored, but the core bomb itself was missing.
The ship's security personnel escorted Madam Rhoden to her escape pod. While boarding, she encountered Saul Moegantz, accusing him of attempting to destroy the ship. He denied the accusation, pointing out that she was overlooking the most lucrative solution to their shared problems. Rhoden agreed to listen to his proposal and boarded Moegantz's escape pod, accompanied by Buck.
Unbeknownst to her, her husband Clode had arranged for the core bomb to be stolen from her room. He had instructed the captain of the Aurorient Express to plant it aboard her escape pod and programmed the pod to collide with the Yorn Skot Mining Station. Aware of his wife's affair, he intended to kill her and claim the insurance money from the station's destruction to settle his debt with Moegantz. However, the captain, unwilling to be complicit in the deaths of thousands aboard the station, detonated the bomb aboard the escape pod prematurely.
Clode Rhoden was displeased that the mining station remained intact but relieved by his wife's apparent death. He and the Jedi joined the remaining passengers of the Aurorient Express on evacuation ships. Clode dismissed the Jedi's attempt to hold him accountable for his plot to destroy the Yorn Skot Mining Station, stating that he would issue his own pardon and return to his cornflakes. However, he was shocked when his wife appeared with Saul Moegantz. Madam Rhoden and Moegantz revealed their plan: Moegantz would seize the Yorn Skot Mining Station to cover Clode's debts, while Madam Rhoden would divorce Clode and claim the remainder of his assets.
Panicked, Clode Rhoden demanded to know what would happen to the Aurorient Express, as it was still his property. At that moment, the group of pressure pirates who had been plotting to steal the Aurorient Express arrived and began to board it. As the Rhodens and the other passengers and crew of the Aurorient Express watched from the evacuation ships and argued vehemently, the second core bomb aboard the Aurorient Express exploded, destroying both it and the pirate vessel.
Madam Rhoden was primarily driven by a desire for wealth and luxury. Her marriage to Clode Rhoden was devoid of love, and she readily plotted his demise when a younger, more attractive suitor appeared. She exhibited little concern for the thousands of lives that would have been lost had her plan to destroy the Yorn Skot Mining Station succeeded.
Madam Rhoden was particularly attached to her possessions, such as her chaughaine sweater. Her personal quarters were lavishly decorated to her taste. She also treated everything owned by her husband as her own personal property, including the Aurorient Express and the Yorn Skot Mining Station. She had little genuine affection for her lover Buck, discarding him when the opportunity arose to align herself with the wealthier Saul Moegantz. Despite her personal dislike for Moegantz, she was happy to accept his financial support.
Madam Rhoden was a character created by Mike Kennedy for the 2002 Dark Horse comic book Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan: The Aurorient Express.