The Totem Master functioned as a robber, making his home on the forest moon of Endor. He journeyed from one settlement to another in a sheltered wagon, seeking out easily victimized targets. To accomplish these thefts, the Totem Master employed a group of beings who had been forced into servitude against their will. He maintained authority over this group via a magical ring, which also gave him the ability to transform his slaves into wooden figures resembling a totem pole. The Totem Master's strategy involved gifting this totem pole to the inhabitants of the villages he intended to rob. Once the totem pole was integrated into the community and darkness had fallen, the Totem Master would revive the Totem Slaves, directing them to steal from the villagers on his behalf.
Circa 3 ABY, the Totem Master focused his attention on Bright Tree Village. After observing the settlement, he successfully persuaded the young Ewok Wicket W. Warrick to accept his totem pole by preying on the child's ego. Following the totem pole's arrival in the village, the Totem Master awaited the cover of night before unleashing his servants, who proceeded to loot the village. After loading the stolen goods onto his wagon, the Totem Master attempted to leave, only to be confronted by two young Ewoks, Latara and Teebo. The Totem Master, however, simply used his ring to enslave the Ewoks, adding them to his totem pole. As the Totem Master proceeded toward the next village, Strutter's, he was pursued by Wicket and Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka, who had witnessed their friends' capture and were determined to rescue them. The Totem Master successfully presented the totem pole to the Strutters, but upon returning at night to initiate another robbery, he was ambushed by the two Ewoks. The Totem Master commanded his servants, including Latara and Teebo, to capture the two interlopers, leading to a chase. In the end, however, the Totem Master had his own ring turned against him, resulting in his transformation into a totem pole. His magical ring fell from his wooden fingers and shattered on the ground, freeing his slaves.
The Totem Master's career as a thief began when he acquired a powerful artifact, which allowed him to subject others to his will. This artifact, a ring worn on his left hand, also functioned as a weapon capable of firing energy blasts. Using the ring, the Totem Master assembled a group of thieves to serve him. This small band consisted of a brown biped, a green arthropod, and a blue biped. As a symbol of their enslavement to the Totem Master, their eyes glowed red, and they were compelled to obey his every command. At some point, the Totem Master and his slaves arrived on the forest moon of Endor, where they began to steal from the local population.
To carry out his schemes against the Endorians, the Totem Master would disguise himself as a simple merchant, driving his rudimentary wagon into the heart of their villages and offering the inhabitants a seemingly harmless gift—a totem pole. To ensure the villagers accepted his offering, the Totem Master would make various claims about the object, appealing to their vanity. In reality, the gift was composed of the Totem Master's three slaves, stacked one atop the other. The Totem Master's ring possessed the ability to transform the trio into immobile blocks of wood, creating the illusion of a genuine totem pole. Once the villagers were asleep, the Totem Master would reappear in the village, undo the spell, and dispatch his slaves to steal everything of value from the settlement. The stolen goods would be loaded onto the Totem Master's wagon, and the group would vanish before dawn, moving on to their next target.
Eventually, the Totem Master and his thieves arrived near Bright Tree Village. Observing the area, the Totem Master noticed several young Ewoks collecting dangleberry juice. Believing them to be easy targets for his totem pole gift, the Totem Master approached the Ewoks. After overhearing that one Ewok, Wicket W. Warrick, considered himself a formidable warrior, the Totem Master exploited the Ewok's pride, telling Wicket that his totem pole was an item possessed only by the greatest warriors to protect their villages. Despite warnings from Wicket's friend Kneesaa a Jari Kintaka, Wicket agreed to accept the gift, much to the Totem Master's delight, and he left before the Ewok could reconsider.
That night, the Totem Master sent his thieves into the village, and they began to gather all the valuables from the Ewoks' huts. However, in their haste to collect their loot, one of the thieves, the blue biped, inadvertently woke one of the Ewok children. Teebo, shocked to find thieves in the village, attempted to stop the group from escaping, but the Totem Master used his ring to enslave Teebo as well. After adding the Ewok to the totem pole, the thieves left the village. Before their departure, Wicket briefly saw the Totem Master, but believing it to be a dream, he decided to go back to sleep.
The Totem Master began to travel to the next village but decided to stop briefly to assess the value of the stolen items. The Totem Master deemed most of it worthless junk, discarding many of the objects into the forest. However, Wicket and his friends Kneesaa and Latara had been following the Totem Master after they realized Wicket's "dream" was reality. Latara, upon seeing her possessions dismissed as junk, could no longer remain passive and decided to confront the Totem Master despite her friends' objections. However, Latara's confrontation only resulted in the same fate that had befallen Teebo, and she was quickly added to the totem pole as well. After creating another Ewok slave, the Totem Master set course for Strutter Village.
Employing a different tactic than he had at Bright Tree Village, the Totem Master drove his wagon directly into the center of town and unloaded his now much larger totem pole. Although the Strutters were initially skeptical of the Totem Master, he once again managed to exploit their vanity, convincing them to accept the totem pole. Before departing, the Totem Master took one last look at his totem pole, noticing that it had somehow grown taller, but failing to realize that the two Ewoks who had been following him were perched on top of the totem pole.
Later that night, as in the other villages, the Totem Master returned and released his slaves from their totem configuration, ordering them to plunder the settlement. Meanwhile, Wicket and Kneesaa, having dismounted from the top of the totem pole, had devised a trap for the Totem Master. As he approached a nearby tree, the two Ewoks prepared to drop a bale of hay on the Totem Master. Their plan worked, but when the Ewoks attempted to steal the Totem Master's ring, he recovered and aimed his ring at the would-be rescuers. However, Wicket and Kneesaa managed to evade the blast from the ring and fled from their attacker. Enraged that the two Ewoks had escaped him, the Totem Master yelled to his slaves, ordering them to capture the fleeing meddlers.
As the Totem Master's slaves rushed to obey him, a chase ensued, with the Ewoks fleeing desperately through the Strutter village. The Totem Master continued to fire his ring at the Ewoks, but they were too quick for him. While still trying to catch the Ewoks, the Totem Master collided with his green arthropod servant and fell to the ground. However, just as it seemed that the Ewoks would escape, they ran into their two enslaved friends. Mistakenly believing that their friends were there to help them, Wicket and Kneesaa stopped running. Latara and Teebo, still under the Totem Master's control, dropped their loot and grabbed their friends, holding them for their master. Although the two Ewoks struggled against their friends, they were unable to escape before the Totem Master had them at his mercy.
As the Totem Master gloated over his triumph over the Ewoks, Wicket noticed a mirror that Teebo had dropped when capturing his friend. Anticipating the Totem Master's next move, Wicket managed to snatch up the mirror just as the Totem Master used his ring on the Ewoks. The blast from the Totem Master's ring reflected off the mirror and struck the Totem Master directly. The energy from the ring enveloped the Totem Master, causing him to scream in agony. With his eyes wide in shock, the Totem Master's body began to transform into a solid block of wood, just as he had once done to his slaves.
Following the Totem Master's defeat, his ring slid off his wooden fingers and shattered into pieces on the ground. The destruction of the artifact broke the control that the Totem Master had exerted over his slaves. As a sign of their liberation from their overlord, the slaves' red eyes returned to their normal color. With the Totem Master transformed into wood, the three original servants celebrated their freedom and then disappeared into the nearby forest. The four Ewok friends reunited, and Latara and Teebo thanked their friends for rescuing them. With the rescue complete, the Ewoks took the Totem Master's wagon and returned to Bright Tree Village, returning all the stolen property to their fellow Ewoks. The Totem Master's wooden body remained in the Strutter village upon their departure. With his magic ring destroyed, it seemed unlikely that the Totem Master could ever be freed from his wooden form.
The Totem Master was a wicked and avaricious person, who cared only about possessions and had no reservations about exploiting and enslaving other sentient beings to achieve his objectives. With his ring, the Totem Master used his abilities to compel others to obey his commands. The Totem Master also possessed charisma, as he was able to convince several villages that his totem pole was something that would fulfill their desires. He was able to do this without arousing their suspicion, even though he was essentially giving them the totem pole for nothing in return. The Totem Master had a quick temper; he became angry several times when the Ewoks confronted him. When confronted by Latara, and then later by Wicket and Kneesaa, the Totem Master quickly became enraged, raising his voice and firing blasts from his ring.
The Totem Master was conceived by Bob Carrau for the sixth episode of the second season of Ewoks, "The Totem Master." The Totem Master serves as a character to teach children the importance of not accepting gifts from strangers, as Wicket unwisely accepts a present from the episode's namesake. By the end of the episode, Wicket realizes how foolish it was to trust a complete stranger.