During the reign of the Galactic Empire, a human male who possessed Force-sensitivity operated as both a thief and a smuggler. This individual, known as The Smuggler, along with his older sister, Riley, played a vital role in the establishment of the Uprising a few months after the Galactic Empire imposed an oppressive lockdown, the "Iron Blockade," on the Anoat sector.
Riley had a younger brother, known as the Smuggler. Their homeworld was Burnin Konn, one of the Mining Worlds situated within the Anoat sector. They became orphans at a young age due to the death of their father in a mining accident. Despite their youth, both siblings had a reputation for being highly skilled thieves. However, an altercation between Riley and the Cadevon Family concerning payment resulted in injuries to Riley. As a result of this incident, she acquired a cybernetic leg brace and transitioned into a role that primarily involved planning, providing her younger brother with assistance and intelligence for his missions through a comlink. The siblings were active during the reign of the Galactic Empire. At some point, the smuggler crossed paths with Beilert Valance, a former Imperial soldier who had become a bounty hunter.
During the period of the Iron Blockade, the Smuggler was covertly transporting a shipment of synthetic kyber crystals on Burnin Konn for the gangster known as "Happy" Dapp. While engaged in this smuggling operation, the young rogue was intercepted by an Imperial Security Officer who had become aware of the illicit activity. To evade arrest, the Smuggler used a stun blast on the officer before making his escape through a nearby mineshaft, utilizing the kyber crystals to trigger an explosion that sealed off the entrance. While navigating the mines of Burnin Konn, the young scoundrel encountered Tryken, Happy Dapp's bodyguard, and managed to overcome him, only to then face Dapp himself.
To compensate for the destruction of the crystals and the incapacitation of Tryken, Riley and her brother made the decision to work for Happy Dapp in order to settle their debts. This arrangement required the scoundrel to retrieve smuggled goods from Trade Spine League ships that had been shot down while attempting to breach the Iron Blockade, to prevent those supplies from being seized by rival gangs.
Eventually, a meeting was arranged between the Smuggler and Shortpaw, the leader of the Trade Spine League. During this meeting, Shortpaw revealed that his organization was devising a plan to sneak a ship past the blockade. To achieve this, they needed to obtain a scan identifying the weakest point in the blockade. Consequently, the Smuggler was dispatched to Mataou with instructions to activate the deep space scanners located within the Hutt ruins on that planet. After the activation of the four scanners, the League successfully identified a vulnerability in the Imperial blockade, enabling them to smuggle a ship through.
Riley believed that, due to their growing notoriety, she and her brother needed to address some of their past adversaries to prevent future retaliation. This led Riley to establish contact with Nogba Quush, a member of the Ivax Syndicate, who offered assistance in exchange for the pair resolving some of the Syndicate's issues. The Smuggler then traveled around Burnin Konn, dealing with the Chromium Kings for boasting about their association with the Syndicate, the Starscorch Robbery Crew for their recklessness, and the Shuxl Brotherhood for their betrayal of the Syndicate.
In return, the Ivax Syndicate assisted Riley in locating several of her enemies and prevented any interference while her brother confronted them. This allowed them to attack the Nexu Claws and persuade them to revoke any bounties the group had placed on them, confront their father's former partner, Roonlo the Stalker, warning him to leave the siblings alone, and ultimately eliminate the Cadevon Family, Riley's former employers who had crushed her leg after a dispute over payment. After finally resolving their issues, the Syndicate expressed their gratitude to Riley and the Smuggler, and provided Riley with the necessary components to repair her cybernetic leg.
After resolving their issues with their enemies, the two returned to Shortpaw, who informed them that Happy had a plan for a major score. To execute this plan, an imperial shuttle was required. The Smuggler then had to travel to the planet Hoth in order to acquire the parts needed to assemble the shuttle. The scoundrel then traveled to a scavenger camp to retrieve the data they had stored their and get a better map of the area but the plan proved unsuccessful as the data was incomplete. As an alternative, the Trade Spine League suggested getting the data from a group of Imperials down on the planets surface. The Smuggler therefore ambushed an imperial patrol down on Hoth and managed to steal an astromech named B9-DT, who had the necessary data needed.
With the map of the area completed, the Smuggler was ready to start collecting the parts needed to fix up the imperial shuttle. The crew needed an imperial codebreaker, a trivalve assembly and a vortex stabiliser. After obtaining the trivalve and the vortex manipulator from a scavenger camp, B9-DT informed the crew of the location of the codebreaker. The last part was being auctioned off by the leader of the scavengers on Hoth, Bohento Splinth, an Aqualish who had history with Happy Dapp. The Smuggler fought their way to Splinth and offered to buy the codebreaker off of him, explaining that they were working with Happy. Upon hearing Dapp's name, the Aqualish became hostile, leaving the smuggler no choice but to kill him and take the codebreaker back to Happy and Shortpaw.
To proceed with the plan, the Smuggler needed to delay an Imperial salvage team, led by Lieutenant Mindak, to allow Dapp and B9-DT to repair the shuttle without interruption. Once the shuttle was complete, Happy was attacked by the remaining members of Bohento Splinth's crew and required the Smuggler's assistance. Despite Riley's suggestion to let Dapp be killed, her brother refused, and the gangster was saved. With the shuttle now operational, Shortpaw went into hiding to avoid being identified and arrested by the Empire. Happy Dapp then explained that the next step of the plan required the Smuggler to meet with one of his contacts.
Happy instructed the young scoundrel to work with Tam Bastion, the leader of the local Rebel regiment. Bastion sent the Smuggler to Anoat to locate an abandoned Rebel base on the planet. Riley also volunteered her brother to assist in rescuing a team of Bastion's men who had been ambushed by gangsters on Mataou while purchasing weapons. In exchange for finding the base and dealing with the Imperial forces tracking the Rebels, Bastion provided Happy Dapp with information on the location where the Empire was storing cargo seized by Governor Ubrik Adelhard and the Iron Blockade.
Happy Dapp, Riley, and the Smuggler then collaborated with Shortpaw and the Trade Spine League to devise a plan to assault the Imperial impound facilities. After setting up a series of sensor disruptors to facilitate escape from Imperial pursuit, the Smuggler attacked the Imperial facilities on Nar Hypa to secure the impounded cargo. At the final facility, the scoundrel discovered a recorded message from Leia Organa informing the galaxy of the Empire's defeat at the Battle of Endor and the death of Emperor Palpatine.
Following this discovery, the siblings were labeled as public enemies and pursued by the dreaded Purge Troopers under the command of Commander Bragh. The Purge Troopers launched an attack on the Carbon Score Cantina, resulting in the death of Happy Dapp and injuries to Riley.
As a result of their adversarial actions, Riley and the Smuggler were compelled to flee Burnin Konn and seek refuge in Cloud City. Thanks to Nogba Quush, the siblings were introduced to Voras the Hutt, the leader of the Ivax Syndicate. The Hutt agreed to assist them in removing their death mark in exchange for their services. The Smuggler agreed to hunt down four members of the Zenowai Crime Society, who were attempting to seize control of Cloud City's black market. Searching the bowels of the city, the young scoundrel managed to take out Shoka Jo, who used to oversee the spice gangs of Plexis. After that, the scoundrel also flushed out Slim Jek, who simply surrendered, and took down the enforcer Roen Torcher. The last Zenowai, Mehedo Clynch, proved to be a trickier adversary. In order to starve the Ivax Syndicate, Clynch was paying off Cloud City's security forces to shut down two mining levels and beat any miners who showed up to work despite the threat. The Smuggler easily reclaimed the mining levels, which only made Clynch more desperate. The last Zenowai seized mining droids and sent them to sabotage the repulsors that maintained Cloud City aloft. As the floating city had already started to crash, the Smuggler set off to stop the sabotage. After destroying the droids, the Smuggler went after Mehedo Clynch himself and defeated him.
The Smuggler then returned to the Paradise Atrium, and learned of Riley and Voras's plan against the Empire. That plan involved gaining allies in order to strike a blow to the Empire as soon as possible, since its forces were weakened by its continuous attempt to maintain the Iron Blockade and keep the sector running. In order to secure such allies.
The Smuggler was sent to the Apex Overlook to speak with the masked Sir Corto Belrake to secure an alliance with the Noble Court. The mysterious Sir Belrake explained that, in order to earn favor with him and his fellow nobles, the Smuggler would have to take on the treacherous Earl Alner, who was located on Anoat. In order to accomplish this, the Smuggler seized the rogue noble's two stockpiles before stopping the Earl himself. Upon defeating the Earl, the Smuggler was introduced to Her Majesty. After exchanging pleasantries and politely declining an offer of adoption into the house of Her Majesty, the Smuggler secured an alliance between the Ivax Syndicate and the Noble Court.
The Smuggler was then sent by Riley to secure an alliance with the mysterious Kouhun. Riley had offered the services of the Smuggler, and though the Kouhun had no interest in an alliance with the syndicate, Deathstick, leader of the Kohun, did have an interest in the Smuggler. Deathstick challenged the Smuggler to participate in the Kouhun's initiation ritual on Mataou as the first step in securing an alliance. The ritual involved the Smuggler drinking a poisonous liquid and passing a series of trials while battling the effects of the poison. The tests all involved killing, and, after completing the final test, the Smuggler was given the cure to the poison and a tentative offer of alliance with the syndicate from Deathstick.
After securing alliances with the Noble Court and Kouhun, the Smuggler and Riley set off to Burnin Konin to rescue members of the Trade Spine League from the purge teams attempting to eradicate anyone with knowledge of the Emperor's death. The Smuggler rescued Ndaya in Drifter's Gorge, Zephasi and Fryoto, Onn Iria, and Tiquip. Shortpaw, upon saving his grandson,Tiquip, offered the Trade Spine League's help to the new alliance.
Riley and the Smuggler hatched a plan to kidnap Bragh and ransom him in exchange for safety. When presented with this plan, newly formed alliance agreed to the plan and made preparations to scavenge much needed weaponry from Hoth to arm the Noble Court's Throneships, including the stardrop torpedo, a Noble Court superweapon. On Hoth, the Smuggler hired the scavenger Grimraker to assist with the collections and cleared several staging areas and campsites.
With the Throneships of the Noble Court armed, the Smuggler traveled to Anoat as bait to lure Bragh into a Kouhun ambush. The Smuggler cleared the area of local inhabitant, disabled planetary sensors, and eliminated teams of purge troopers on the planet. Before Bragh could be kidnapped, the Ivax Syndicate leaked the details of the plan, resulting in the capture of Her Majesty and Loathe by the Imperials.
After learning that Riley and Voras had betrayed the Noble Court and Kouhun, the Smuggler contacted Bastion. Bastion and the rebels assisted the Smuggler in ascertaining the location of the Crypt, the prison facility where the Imperials were holding Her Majesty and Loathe. The Smuggler assisted the rebels in broadcasting the recorded message from Leia Organa to the entire system. The ensuing riots created the distraction needed to infiltrate the prison facility and free the Smuggler's captive friends. As Imperial starships carrying troopers left Pujool, the Smuggler headed toward the Crypt.
Riley informed the Noble Court about the Smugglers plans, and Sir Corto arrived at Pujool with Noble Court Throneships to provide the Smuggler with backup. At the Crypt, the Smuggler first came across Kosimas and freed him. The Smuggler then disabled the Crypt's alarm and camera systems, then disabled the prisoners held in the delta compound section of the prison. Riley contacted the Trade Spine League, and the League's ships transported the prisoners from delta compound to freedom. The Smuggler next freed the prisoners from the gamma compound section of the prison where the Smuggler freed Loathe. Loathe decided to stay and free his fellow Kouhun rather than escape, and the Smuggler continued on. Loathe transmitted data about the prison to Riley, which allowed the Smuggler to attack the various guard stations and keep the Imperials from sending reinforcements. As the Kouhun wreaked havoc throughout the prison, Loathe was able to find the location of Her Majesty before being killed. Acting on the intelligence gathered by Loathe, the Smuggler rescued Her Majesty. As the Noble Court began pulling away from Pujool orbit, the Ivax Syndicate sent reinforcements to protect the Smuggler in an attempt to free the remaining prisoners held in gamma compound section of the prison. In a final effort, the Ivax Syndicate, the Kouhun, the Noble Court, and the Trade Spine League contributed in their own ways to disrupt the prison while the Smuggler closed in on Bragh. The Smuggler found Bragh mid-transmission with Adelhard and interrupted his conversation by defeating Bragh.
The Smuggler received holodiscs from the data broker, Dazur Dar, that contained information regarding the secrets weapons of the Noble Court and the origins of the Kouhun. Through the tutoring of Shelish and Xiath, the Smuggler became more attuned to the Force.
Untabros Munkh, an Ugnaught shopkeeper that lived in the Cloud City Shadow Market, told the Smuggler about rumors of Jedi scrap material. The Smuggler partnered with Munkh to retrieve the material, with Munkh providing information and the Smuggler engaging in dangerous missions to retrieve the Jedi relic. The investigations lead to the location of a Jedi Vault, containing the remnants of a Jedi's lightsaber. During the investigations, the Smuggler learned of the fate of four Jedi (Mususiel, Zubain Ankonori, Khandra, and Nuhj) that escaped Order 66, but who were eventually hunted down and killed by Inquisitors.
After killing Bragh, Riley gathered the everyone together, and the Smuggler returned and gave a rousing speech in front of Riley, Vorax, Deathstick, Her Majesty, Bastion, and Shortpaw, convicing them to band together and overthrow Adelhard. The group then agreed to establish a new joint base of operations. The Smuggler awaited word from contacts regarding the new base. Word of the smuggler's discovery of a weak point in the Iron Blockade sensors also reached Beilert Valance. Valance was able to acquire the route from individuals on Burnin Konn, which he then used to help the New Republic enter the Anoat sector and confront Adelhard. After passing through, Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker noted to Valance that his smuggler friend's information had done its part by getting them into the sector.
Initially, the Smuggler's primary motivation was financial gain, but they maintained integrity by honoring agreements, even when presented with more lucrative alternatives. Furthermore, the Smuggler demonstrated a willingness to accept accountability for their actions, such as the destruction of a kyber crystal shipment intended for "Happy" Dapp. Additionally, the Smuggler employed humor as a coping mechanism to alleviate fear.
The Smuggler serves as the playable character in Star Wars: Uprising, a mobile game released in 2015. Given that the game allows players to customize the character's name and gender, the Smuggler lacks a definitive canon identity. Nevertheless, the official website for Star Wars: Uprising refers to the game's protagonist as "an unknown Smuggler," with a capitalized "S."
In promotional materials for the game, Riley was consistently portrayed as a fair-skinned human. The 2018 publication Star Wars: Smuggler's Guide by Daniel Wallace officially confirmed her human appearance as canon. For the purposes of this article, the Smuggler is also depicted as human. The reference booklet "The Battle of Endor and the Fall of the Empire" later confirmed the smuggler as male.
Star Wars: Uprising was unexpectedly discontinued on November 17, 2016, leaving both the game's storyline and the Smuggler's narrative unresolved.