The alias "The Dragon" belonged to a notorious arms dealer from the Ortolan species (a male), who conducted his illicit business on the planet Anthan Prime. Following the Battle of Yavin, the unconventional archaeologist Dr. Chelli Lona Aphra procured explosives from him. She subsequently employed these explosives in an attack against an Arquitens-class light cruiser positioned in orbit around Anthan Prime. In the aftermath of this assault, Inspector Thanoth of the Galactic Empire determined that the Dragon had been the source of the explosives used by the attackers. Upon obtaining the location of the Dragon's mansion from Doowan, one of his distributors, the Empire raided his residence. Despite his attempts to peacefully surrender and willingness to divulge details of his criminal enterprises, Darth Vader, the true mastermind behind the attack on the Imperial cruiser, executed him to prevent him from revealing Aphra's identity.
The information acquired from the Dragon was then utilized to locate "the Ante," a Givin information broker operating in the underbelly of the floating city of the Spire on Anthan Prime. Although he identified Aphra as she tried to evade Imperial forces, Vader subtly eliminated him using the Force before he could disclose her name, thus preserving her anonymity.
Following the Battle of Yavin in 0 BBY, the male Ortolan known as "the Dragon" functioned as an arms dealer on Anthan Prime, a planet situated on the edge of the Outer Rim Territories of the galaxy. As the most infamous arms dealer in his area, he employed others to distribute his goods. The Dragon provided explosives to Dr. Chelli Lona Aphra, a renegade archaeologist working for Darth Vader. She intended to raid an Arquitens-class light cruiser orbiting Anthan Prime, which carried a substantial amount of credits seized from the Son-tuul Pride, a criminal syndicate located on the Outer Rim world of Son-tuul.
Aphra utilized the explosives to obliterate a large asteroid in Anthan Prime's orbit, triggering a meteor shower that impacted the Imperial ship, masking the fact that she had disabled it with an ion charge. Simultaneously, Aphra's crew infiltrated the vessel, breached its vault, and directed a large meteor on a collision course, creating a massive breach and ejecting the credits and any trace of their presence into space. They then collected the credits, staging the theft as an accident.
However, the Galactic Empire was not deceived, and dispatched Darth Vader, the very individual responsible for the attack, and Inspector Thanoth to sent locate and bring the perpetrators to justice. After scrutinizing the ship's damage, Thanoth accurately reconstructed the sequence of events leading to the successful theft of the Empire's credits, concluding that the explosives had been acquired from the Dragon. They successfully located Doowan, one of the Dragon's dealers, and persuaded him to reveal the location of his boss's mansion, situated in the lower reaches of Anthan Prime's eastward core at coordinates 241-86-1872, before executing him as a display of authority.
The Empire then conducted a raid on the Dragon's mansion. After his men had been eliminated by Imperial forces, the Dragon attempted to surrender, offering to disclose all details of his operations, including the identity of the purchaser of the explosives used in the attack on the Imperial cruiser. However, to prevent him from implicating Aphra, Vader used his lightsaber to kill the Dragon. When questioned by Thanoth, Vader claimed that the Dragon had threatened to detonate the building and that he had prevented him from doing so. The inspector, noticing the absence of a trigger, rebuked Vader for failing to recognize the bluff. Thanoth then located the Dragon's records, secured in a high-quality safe believed to incinerate its contents after three unsuccessful attempts to open it. On the third attempt, the inspector successfully opened the safe, noting that Ortolan secretions were distinctive and that the amount of sweat on each button indicated the frequency of its use in the unlocking sequence. Thanoth then seized the records to uncover the core of Anthan Prime's criminal element, hoping that further investigation would reveal the attackers of the Imperial cruiser.
Utilizing the Dragon's data, Thanoth arranged a private meeting with a Givin known as "the Ante," the sector's foremost information broker, based in the lower levels of the Spire, a city floating in the upper atmosphere of Anthan Prime. Vader then mobilized a strike force of stormtroopers and launched an assault on the Spire, aiming to capture the Ante and uncover the mastermind behind the attack. Upon locating him, the Ante revealed that he had destroyed his records but was willing to cooperate, providing the current location of the Plasma Devils, a criminal organization secretly a cell of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, based on the Thanteen Substrata on Anthan 1, a moon of Anthan Prime, disrupting Imperial operations across the sector.
When Thanoth inquired about the theft of the Son-tuul Pride's confiscated credits, the Ante identified Aphra, who was present on the Spire for a meeting, as she fled. However, before he could utter her name, Vader used the Force to manipulate a Mon Calamari into killing the Ante with their blaster, preventing him from revealing her identity. Vader cornered Aphra but allowed her to escape, collapsing the ceiling to create the impression that she had brought it down with her ship, the Ark Angel. The doctor then evaded capture by Imperial forces after Vader persuaded Thanoth to pursue the revealed Plasma Devils instead, thus maintaining Aphra's anonymity.
Despite being the most notorious arms dealer in his area, the Dragon attempted to surrender when faced with death, offering to disclose all details of his criminal activities, including his clientele, to the Empire. He also possessed limited intelligence, failing to wipe his distinctive sweat from the safe's buttons. This, combined with a simple combination, enabled Inspector Thanoth to easily decipher the code.
As a male Ortolan, the Dragon had blue skin and black eyes. Like all members of his species, he lacked arms, possessing only legs. He adorned both of his large, floppy ears with four silver rings, and a dragon-shaped pendant hung from his left ear.
The Dragon wore a vest of silver scale armor over a brown outfit. At the time of his death, he carried a blaster pistol. The Dragon stored his records in a high-quality safe in his mansion on Anthan Prime, which Inspector Thanoth suspected would immolate its contents after three incorrect attempts to open it.
The Dragon was initially mentioned in Darth Vader (2015) 9, a canon comic penned by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Salvador Larroca, released on September 9, 2015. His first appearance and subsequent demise occurred in Darth Vader (2015) 10, also written by Gillen and illustrated by Larroca, which was released on October 7, 2015.