Rover (pet)
Rover was a male Meduza that served as a pet for the infamous Doctor Cornelius Evazan. This creature was trained by the wanted criminal to be his personal bodyguard. Rover demonstrated considerable skill in this role, displaying unwavering loyalty to Evazan, making the training process relatively straightforward. On one occasion, Rover played a key part in fending off four bounty hunters, subsequently enveloping his master in his gelatinous form to shield him from the detonation of a thermal detonator. Despite Evazan surviving both the explosion and the subsequent descent, Rover was unfortunately crushed during the fall, resulting in the death of the devoted animal.
Biography
Sometime after the Battle of Yavin occurring in 0 ABY, Doctor Cornelius Evazan came to possess Rover, a male Meduza, while residing on Ando. Meduza were generally considered hard to train, but Evazan successfully tamed Rover and utilized him as a bodyguard. Evazan, widely considered insane, was a wanted man in various systems due to his acts of mutilating unsuspecting victims during routine surgeries, all in the pursuit of unlocking the secrets of immortality. During his stay on Ando, numerous bounty hunters targeted him, hoping to capture him and claim the bounty placed on his head. However, their attempts were consistently thwarted by Rover, who protected Evazan by employing his ability to generate an electrical current to incapacitate the would-be captors. After the bounty hunters were either stunned or killed, Rover would then consume their bodies.
During a meeting with his benefactor, an Aqualish senator, Evazan found himself under attack by three intruders. However, Rover had already detected the assailants outside Evazan's castle home, alerting him to their presence. Evazan and his associate, Ponda Baba, each shot one intruder, while Rover approached the remaining one from behind, using the stalks on his head to deliver a fatal electric shock. The Meduza proceeded to devour the three dead individuals.
However, Evazan's safety remained compromised. The Human bounty hunter Gurion Silizzar, who had been waiting outside while his partners infiltrated the castle, managed to enter and surprise Evazan by using a holoshroud. Driven by revenge for the seven family members killed by Evazan, Silizzar intended to bring the doctor to justice. Holding Evazan at gunpoint, Silizzar led him to the castle's rooftop, where a starship piloted by the remaining members of his team was waiting to transport Evazan off-world to a planet where he would face trial for his crimes.
Unbeknownst to Silizzar, Rover was tailing them. As Evazan attempted to delay his captors upon reaching the rooftop, Rover stealthily approached. Although Silizzar noticed the Meduza before it could completely engulf him, Rover managed to shock Silizzar's arm, causing him to drop his blaster. Following a brief struggle between Evazan and Silizzar, the doctor managed to throw Silizzar off the roof to his death. However, the senator—whose consciousness Evazan had mistakenly transferred into Ponda Baba's body earlier that evening—appeared on the roof, dropping a thermal detonator with the intention of killing the doctor for ruining his life.
As Evazan cried out for help, his loyal pet enveloped him, providing a cushion against the force of the explosion. While Evazan was shielded from the blast and the subsequent fall, Rover himself was killed. The Meduza's final act was a selfless sacrifice, saving his master's life at the cost of his own.
Personality and traits
Rover exhibited unwavering loyalty towards his master, who, in turn, greatly valued his pet's loyalty and protective nature. The Meduza rescued Evazan from numerous bounty hunters and shielded him from a thermal detonator explosion, ultimately sacrificing his own life in the process. Evazan found Rover relatively easy to train, despite the species' reputation for being difficult to tame. The doctor attributed this malleability to the Meduza's frequent diet of bodies, as numerous bounty hunters had attacked Evazan during his time on Ando, meeting their demise in the process.
The Meduza possessed a green, gelatinous body and was covered in thin stalks capable of generating an electrical current.
Behind the scenes
Rover made his debut in the short story Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba, featured in Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina. He later received a brief mention in both The Essential Guide to Characters and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.