Sarco Plank, also known as the Scavenger, was a male Melitto ronin who sustained himself by obtaining precious relics for patrons, and simultaneously exhibited a cruel streak by enticing individuals to meet their demise. Not long after the Battle of Yavin, Plank escorted Jedi trainee Luke Skywalker to the Temple of Eedit located on the planet Devaron, with the intention of exploiting the Jedi's abilities to unlock the temple, as Plank was under the impression that its lower levels contained a significant amount of treasure. After Luke had served his purpose, Plank revealed his true motives and brandished an electrostaff against the Jedi initiate on the temple's summit. Luke retaliated utilizing his father's lightsaber, causing Plank to fall into the temple's depths, although Luke could sense Plank's survival through the Force. Plank continued his activities as late as 30 years following the Battle of Endor.
Born circa 25 BBY, Sarco Plank, a Melitto male, originated from the planet Li-Toran, but spent his formative years in the settlement of Tikaroo on Devaron. As a ronin, he was a Melitto warrior without a Myrmitrix, and therefore lived apart from a hive. Never well-liked by the local populace, he began to regard the surrounding jungle of Deveron as his home, only returning to civilization when necessary. During his lifetime, the Jedi Order was still operating on Devaron prior to their extermination during Order 66, and he knew of the Jedi Temple of Eedit near Tikaroo. For many years, he aspired to enter the temple and plunder the riches he imagined were within, but the Galactic Empire thwarted his plans, prohibiting entry and guarding it with sensors. He gained notoriety as "the Scavenger," a title he detested, but acquired due to his pursuit of valuable items and finding clients to purchase them.
He also occasionally worked as a guide, operating freely because he owned his equipment and mount, unlike most local guides who leased theirs from a local depot owned by Porst. On occasion, Plank would lead clients to a somber hollow covered in moss, where he would murder them, leaving their remains among the soil and foliage. His victims were usually affluent and eccentric elderly hunters whose disappearances would go unreported. While he attributed their deaths to unfortunate incidents, some locals suspected his involvement.
In 0 ABY, the Jedi Padawan Luke Skywalker arrived on Devaron to repair his BTL-A4 Y-wing assault starfighter/bomber. Plank discovered that the pilot was seeking the Temple of Eedit, which had been abandoned for years after its destruction by Savage Opress during the Clone Wars. The guides in Tikaroo refused to assist Skywalker because of the Imperials, but on Skywalker's second day on Devaron, Plank awaited him on the porch of Porst's depot, where Skywalker was staying. While waiting, the scavenger cleaned his blaster rifle, and then assessed Skywalker upon his arrival, offering his services as a guide. Skywalker accepted.
Two hours later, Plank encountered Skywalker outside the depot with two happabores for their journey. He attached howdahs to the mounts' backs and helped Skywalker load his protocol droid C-3PO into the howdah on the smaller happabore, while the Jedi's astromech droid R2-D2 was secured to the beast's side. As Plank and Skywalker prepared to depart, Farnay, a local Devaronian girl, arrived and unsuccessfully attempted to dissuade Skywalker from traveling with the Scavenger, warning him about Plank's clients who never returned. As the group traversed Devaron's jungles, Skywalker sensed several pikhron nearby and halted Plank, who assumed his client wished to hunt them and offered him a rifle. Skywalker declined the weapon and forbade Plank from killing them, offering to compensate for the value of the creature's hides when the scavenger protested.
Skywalker and C-3PO then inquired about Plank's upbringing on Devaron and the origin of his nickname, while the scavenger was surprised to learn that Skywalker had once been a farmer, having previously heard Skywalker's cover story that he was a hyperspace scout. He then offered to sell Skywalker's starfighter and R2 unit if he was interested, knowing individuals who would be willing to purchase them. The Jedi refused the offer and requested that Plank take him to Eedit, which the Scavenger initially declined. After Skywalker claimed he only wished to see the temple due to an interest in historic sites and artifacts, Plank agreed for an additional fee.
Plank escorted Skywalker and his droids to the edge of the large plateau where the temple was situated, but refused to proceed further due to the Imperial sensors surrounding the temple to deter visitors. Instead, he offered to take Skywalker to his usual killing ground, but refused to say what he would find there. Sensing Plank's intentions through the Force, the Jedi refused and asked how he could get closer to the temple and if there was a lake nearby, as he had seen one in a Force vision without Plank's knowledge. Confused, Plank explained that there was no lake nearby, but mentioned a dam, which Skywalker demanded to be taken to. At the dam, Plank dismissed abandoned gear and droid parts from the Battle of Devaron during the Clone Wars as junk. He laughed when Skywalker requested macrobinoculars to observe a nearby cliff, but complied and was surprised when his client spotted a distant cave entrance to the temple, beyond his own field of view.
Skywalker managed to scale the cliff and reach the cave, then returned and bargained with Plank for the use of his block and tackle to lift R2 and C-3PO up the cliff. Once the droids were safely up, the Jedi tossed down Plank's gear and informed him that he would be inside the temple for a few days and would contact him via comlink when he wanted to leave. Plank then returned to his beasts and established a campsite near the cliffs, making a campfire from branches and leaves. After a day of waiting, Plank observed a group of eight Imperial stormtroopers and an Imperial officer entering the temple with Farnay as a prisoner.
Plank activated his electrostaff and followed the Imperials, commenting on Skywalker's use of a lightsaber and then activating an electromagnetic pulse from his belt to disable the Imperials' communications. One of the troopers fired at Plank and missed, leading the alien to impale the Imperial with his staff and stun him. A battle then ensued between the Imperials, Plank, and Skywalker. Skywalker killed the Imperial officer with a deflected blaster bolt, and he and Plank then defeated the remaining troopers with their lightsaber and staff, respectively.
After the battle, Skywalker thanked Plank as the alien began disposing of the troopers' bodies into a collapsed pit in the temple's center. He explained to Skywalker that concealing the bodies would make it harder for the Empire to determine what had occurred, and the Jedi assisted him in completing the task. Plank then revealed to Skywalker that he knew the boy was a Jedi, but assumed he was only a Padawan. He then disclosed his long-standing desire to loot the temple and thanked Skywalker for providing him with a way in.
The pair then engaged in combat, with Plank gaining the advantage after Skywalker discovered that the scavenger's electrostaff could withstand his lightsaber. After Skywalker managed to cut the back of Plank's leg, the alien activated a flash grenade and blinded his opponent. Skywalker was saved when Farnay began shooting at Plank, but the scavenger disarmed her and threatened to kill her. Skywalker then resumed the fight while still blind, and assuming the boy was no threat Plank moved to finish him. He was caught off guard when Skywalker slashed across his torso and screeched in pain, drawing Skywalker's blaster pistol to shoot the Jedi. Before he could fire, a herd of pikhron charged from nearby and knocked Plank into the same pit where he had earlier thrown the stormtroopers. The scavenger survived the fall, but was abandoned by Skywalker, who returned to Tikaroo with Farnay and the droids before leaving Devaron.
Plank eventually relocated to Jakku, either escaping or hiding from enemies he had made during his shady career. On Jakku, Plank became an illicit arms dealer and bounty hunter in Niima Outpost. He worked as a fence, purchasing stolen weaponry and often enhancing it with Trandoshan triplers and doublers to increase the firepower of blaster weapons. In Niima's scavenger-based economy, such weapons were highly sought after.
Plank was present when Unkar Plutt requested a volunteer to plant a flag and claim salvage rights for the Star Destroyer Spectral. Plank narrowly avoided being struck by Rey's speeder when she sped past them to seize the flag and gain an advantage. Sarco, along with other Niima Outpost residents, pursued Rey on their speeders.
Sarco then observed Rey's progress in finding a way into the Destroyer using a viewing device. He dismissed a suggestion from one of his companions to kill Rey, before noticing that she had found an entrance. He and three others quickly boarded the ship using a Quadrijet transfer spacetug, but as they descended, the Spectral began to power up, causing one of his companions to fall into the ship.
When the Stormtrooper deserter Finn entered Niima Outpost seeking water, he was denied by at least one individual. Sarco, standing nearby, responded in an alien language.
Plank was a member of the Melitto species with no visible mouth, but rather four [chitin](/article/chitin] plates, the largest being on top. Although he lacked eyes, Plank could perceive his surroundings using hypersensitive lashes. Small, slightly waving bristles filled the gaps between the plates. Similar plates covered his forearms. When speaking through the vocoder in his helmet, Plank's voice was deep and low. He often tilted his head from side to side in a clock-like manner when addressing others. When entering the Temple of Eedit to confront the Imperials, Plank exuded confidence and malice, a stark contrast to his demeanor when traveling with Skywalker. Upon first encountering Plank, Luke Skywalker felt a disturbance in the Force that left a "bad taste" in his mouth, but he was compelled to hire the guide as he had no alternative way to reach the Temple of Eedit.
He regarded animals as resources to be exploited, dismissing the possibility of overhunting an entire galaxy's worth of them. He considered the Tikaroo residents' practice of living in harmony with nature as "sentimental nonsense". When one of his happabores grunted in protest as a howdah was strapped onto its back, Plank kicked it in the head, causing it to snap its teeth at him. He threatened to destroy C-3PO while traveling with him when the droid became anxious about the dangers of the jungle.
The scavenger wore a worn gray metal helmet that concealed his entire head except for his face, and included a vocoder in the chin. It could extend a shield to completely cover Plank's face when necessary. His torso was adorned with two bandoliers filled with bulging pockets, positioned on either side of a control box with black tubes extending from it. Two tubes connected to the cheeks of Plank's helmet, and two ran over his shoulders. At least one tube contained a pale green liquid. Mismatched armor covered his left forearm and right shoulder, and a tattered cape hung from his left shoulder. Plank's belt had a switch that could activate an electromagnetic pulse.
He carried a block and tackle on one of his happabores, used to hoist pikhron corpses for skinning during hunts. He kept a pair of small, expensive macrobinoculars in one of his bandolier pockets. In combat, he used an electrostaff and owned two long, boxy blaster rifles and at least one flash grenade.
On Jakku, Plank wore simpler attire, typical of Niima Outpost. He wore a weathered, layered, hooded robe in dark red tones with a lighter red underlayer. His robes were stained and dirty from Jakku's harsh conditions. A Nutrient and Fluid Dispenser was mounted on his chestplate and fed into his chitinous mask, but he had dispensed with visible armor and no longer carried the weaponry bandolier. Plank carried a Target pistol with a Trandoshan doubler, a "Jakku Night Special" blaster rifle, and a modified SoroSuub JSP-14 pistol amplified with an exotic Trandoshan tripler, and used a Quadrijet transfer spacetug.
Tom Wilton played Sacro Plank in the 2015 sequel trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. The character's concept art was created by senior sculptor Martin Rezard in September 2013 during the film's preproduction. Titled "Sand People Head", it was among several created while the creature design team researched and designed Sand People, and was chosen for development into a full costume. Rezard felt the character, especially Plank's head, had a lobster-like quality. Further concept art of Plank was produced in January 2014 by creature concept designer Jake Lunt Davies, showing Plank's full body and weapon with the title "Outpost Alien C034".
During the development of The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure, a scarred Devaronian was initially used as the villain before Sarco Plank was chosen. Jason Fry, the author, was given a choice between two aliens from The Force Awakens for the role. Grummgar was the other option, but Fry declined because his large size seemed unsuitable for a fight with Luke Skywalker. The name "Sarco" was inspired by the word sarcoma.