Tam Elgrin, a Human male, worked as the holocam operator alongside holodocumentarian Wolam Tser. Following the Battle of Coruscant in 27 ABY, he found himself marooned on the devastated world, his sole possession being his camera. He recorded the aftermath of the battle, but was soon captured by the Yuuzhan Vong. They forced him into service as a spy and saboteur. He was tasked with planting surveillance biots in the New Republic garrison located on Borleias, and with capturing Jedi and New Republic pilot Jaina Solo. His specific mission was to acquire intelligence regarding the Starlancer Project, a New Republic initiative to develop a superweapon rumored to be exceptionally dangerous to Yuuzhan Vong organic vessels.
His espionage was uncovered by the scientist Danni Quee, who realized that the Yuuzhan Vong had captured him on Coruscant. Ultimately, when presented with the opportunity to capture Solo, he chose to defy his orders, revealing his role as a spy. The Yuuzhan Vong attempted to eliminate him for his betrayal, but he was rescued, liberated from slavery, and healed by Jedi Master Cilghal. During his recovery in the medbay, he encountered a young boy named Dab Hantaq, who had been brought to Borleias after the treasonous Senator Viqi Shesh attempted to pass him off as the Jedi Anakin Solo, Jaina's brother. Elgrin grew fond of the boy and permitted him to assist in filming a documentary about daily life within the Borleias garrison. He aided in defeating the Yuuzhan Vong during the Battle of Borleias by attacking a Yuuzhan Vong warrior to save a Bothan technician's life. Subsequently, he departed for destinations unknown with Wolam Tser and his young apprentice, Hantaq.
Born in 1 ABY, Tam Elgrin eventually crossed paths with holodocumentarian Wolam Tser. Tser hired Elgrin to be his holocam operator, and the two of them eventually traveled to Coruscant during the Yuuzhan Vong War.
When the Yuuzhan Vong invaded Coruscant, Elgrin was on the planet alongside Tser. Elgrin captured a hologram depicting the terraforming of Coruscant, along with a Yuuzhan Vong patrol actively pursuing him. During the latter recording, Elgrin was alone in Coruscant's lower levels when a Yuuzhan Vong patrol spotted him, initiating a chase. However, Elgrin tripped and fell, resulting in his capture and forced slavery at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong. The Yuuzhan Vong provided him with a villip communications device, which Elgrin later claimed was a souvenir from Corellia, as well as collections of insects and bugs to be used in his espionage efforts on their behalf. Elgrin's loyalty to the Yuuzhan Vong was maintained through a form of conditioning that caused severe headaches if he did not fully commit to assisting them.
Following his escape from Coruscant, Elgrin and Tser arrived at the recently reclaimed New Republic garrison on Borleias, where Jedi Master Luke Skywalker and other New Republic officers at the garrison viewed his holorecording. Unbeknownst to Skywalker, Tser, and the others stationed on Borleias, Elgrin was also working as a spy for the Yuuzhan Vong. To conceal his forced allegiance to the extragalactic invaders, Elgrin explained that he had been with a group of refugees on Coruscant during the pursuit recording, but had turned off his holocam and escaped after encountering the Vong. Elgrin later complained to Yuuzhan Vong warrior Denua Ku and New Republic traitor Viqi Shesh, via his villip, that he was not in a position to uncover any secrets about the Starlancer Project, a plan to create a superweapon based on Yuuzhan Vong lambent crystal biotechnology, which he had been ordered to investigate. Shesh doubted his claims and instructed him to befriend New Republic scientist Danni Quee to gain the trust of those around him, and then sabotage the Borleias fortress from within. To achieve this, he was instructed to plant recording devices in machines that would be placed in critical locations and leave false evidence implicating others within the Borleias command structure, in an attempt to confuse the New Republic Intelligence staff on Borleias. Soon, Quee closely reviewed Elgrin's tape of post-Battle Coruscant, noticing several inconsistencies with the tape and Elgrin's story, particularly the fact that no other Humans were visible or audible in the tape. Her viewing of the tape revealed to her the fact that Elgrin had fabricated his story all along.
During the Battle of Borleias, Elgrin was tasked by his Yuuzhan Vong superiors with attaching a tracking bug to Jedi and Rogue Squadron pilot Jaina Solo's X-wing starfighter. This bug was part of a Yuuzhan Vong plot to capture Solo, whom they believed to be an avatar of their Trickster goddess. However, Solo evaded the initial Yuuzhan Vong attempt to capture her, aided by her wingmen Kyp Durron and Jagged Fel.
Forty-seven days into the Yuuzhan Vong occupation of Borleias, Elgrin infiltrated Danni Quee's office, hoping to obtain secrets about the Starlancer Project while she slept. After reading and recording information from the screens in her room, Elgrin saw Quee, an enemy of the Yuuzhan Vong, asleep and defenseless. He considered taking the initiative and killing her to appease his Yuuzhan Vong masters. He knew he could kill her by placing a razor bug, which he had in his possession, on her body. However, Elgrin reconsidered murdering the woman and turned away, leaving her room in great pain due to his refusal to kill the scientist. Unbeknownst to him, Quee was feigning sleep the entire time, confirming her suspicions that Elgrin was collaborating with the Yuuzhan Vong.
Later, after the incident in Quee's room, Elgrin encountered Jaina Solo, the very person he had been assigned to capture. By then, Elgrin was suffering intense pain from his conditioning, was unable to walk properly, and was bleeding from his nose. Elgrin confessed to Solo that he was a spy, and that he had been assigned to capture her. He also told her that he had planted the tracking bug on her X-wing, but had since removed it. Elgrin believed that Solo did not believe him, assuming he was just another shell-shocked refugee. Before Solo left for her X-wing, she summoned medical personnel to assist him. They were able to save him, though Elgrin had prepared a datacard with instructions and confessions in the event of his death, as he collapsed shortly after his conversation with Solo.
While receiving medical care, Elgrin was healed by Jedi Master Cilghal. Cilghal was able to lessen the effects of the Yuuzhan Vong conditioning, using a helmet-like device that electronically interfered with the pain receptors in Elgrin's brain, reducing or eliminating the pain. Cilghal also informed him that New Republic General Wedge Antilles, who commanded the Borleias garrison, would not punish him for his spying; in fact, Antilles would commend him.
During his medical care, Elgrin met a young boy named Dab Hantaq, who, like Elgrin, had been exploited by the Yuuzhan Vong in one of their schemes. Hantaq resembled the late Anakin Solo and was taken by Yuuzhan Vong collaborator Viqi Shesh, who planned to take them to the Solo family, distracting them, and allowing Shesh to capitalize on their diverted attention in order to kidnap Luke Skywalker's baby son Ben. Hantaq had come under the care of Han Solo and Leia Organa Solo, and was residing at the Borleias garrison. Elgrin grew fond of the boy and even allowed Hantaq to spend a day as a holocam operator for Wolam Tser, taking him along on one of Tser's recording sessions.
Hantaq and Elgrin went to Tser, who assigned them to document the daily lives of the defenders of Borleias. While Elgrin and Tser reviewed the footage, they noticed something out of place: a strange reflective light above the doorway of one of the biotics building's basement hallways. Investigating the scene, Elgrin discovered a Yuuzhan Vong device there, and found a Yuuzhan Vong tunnel below. Despite Tser's objections, he descended into it and saw a Yuuzhan Vong spy and a Bothan prisoner. Leaving his holocam in the tunnel and activating it as a distraction, Elgrin managed to free the Bothan, but the Yuuzhan Vong warrior destroyed the holocam and returned. Elgrin then attempted to attack the warrior with a vibroblade, but the Yuuzhan Vong defeated him in melee combat. However, after Elgrin was disarmed, Iella Wessiri Antilles and a team of security officers, summoned by Tser, shot and killed the warrior.
Elgrin lost consciousness and awoke once more in a medical care bed. Iella Wessiri Antilles informed him that by stopping the Yuuzhan Vong in the tunnel, he prevented the spy from escaping with critical information. Elgrin then realized that the Starlancer Project was a deception designed to mislead the Yuuzhan Vong. He later departed Borleias in a private yacht with Wolam Tser, wishing to escape the Yuuzhan Vong forever. Accompanying the two journalists was young Hantaq, who willingly joined Elgrin after the man spoke to his temporary guardians, the Solos, and obtained their permission to care for the boy.
Elgrin was an awkward man, which led to his enslavement by the Yuuzhan Vong after he stumbled while fleeing them on Coruscant. Initially, Elgrin was too afraid to resist the Yuuzhan Vong, although he opposed their goals. However, despite his conditioning, he was rebellious enough to defy his Yuuzhan Vong masters. When he had the chance to capture Jaina Solo, he ultimately refused to follow his orders and confessed his duplicity at great personal risk. His disobedience nearly cost him his life, but he was resilient enough to return to holofilming shortly after being freed from the Yuuzhan Vong's control.
Elgrin was very uncomfortable around crowds and women he found attractive, such as Danni Quee, whom he was infatuated with, but his feelings were not reciprocated. His employer, Tser, often tried to set Elgrin up with women, but without success, as Elgrin did not want to be perceived as superficial. Elgrin was troubled by his self-created reputation as a traitor, and his lack of material possessions or wealth, as his savings and belongings were located on the now-devastated Coruscant. According to Tser, Elgrin's flaw was that he did not seize opportunities or act on them, such as going out for a night of fun with people his own age, and that Elgrin's reputation as a "traitor" was completely false. However, Elgrin still allowed it to bother him, particularly when others expressed a low opinion of him for having served the Yuuzhan Vong. Tser also stated that Elgrin was capable of quietly confronting and overcoming significant challenges in his own way, noting how Elgrin overcame Yuuzhan Vong conditioning.
After Elgrin met the young orphan Dab Hantaq, he grew fond of the precocious child and allowed him to accompany him on filming tasks, as well as teaching the boy how to use a holocamera. However, Elgrin, concerned for the boy, maintained that the young Hantaq did not belong in the dangerous situation on Borleias. Elgrin would later boldly attack a Yuuzhan Vong spy in an underground tunnel over Tser's objections, preventing a security breach at the Borleias facility. After the ordeal in the tunnel and towards the end of his stay on Borleias, he became weary of being involved in the ongoing war with the Yuuzhan Vong. Having endured Yuuzhan Vong slavery, he simply wanted to escape the Yuuzhan Vong and left Borleias with Tser and Hantaq.
The character Tam Elgrin first appeared in the Enemy Lines duology by author Aaron Allston for the New Jedi Order series. To date, those two books represent his only appearances in Star Wars canon.