White Witch

The Mobquet C/L-82 landspeeder was a well-regarded model in the Core Worlds in the time leading up to the Clone Wars. Although the C/L-82's popularity waned by 18 BBY, its dependability and ease of upkeep ensured its continued appeal among Outer Rim adolescents. This made it a fitting choice for the young racing team consisting of Thall Joben and Jord Dusat. The pair revamped the majority of the landspeeder's systems and incorporated various modifications to enhance its performance.

The finished White Witch, distinguished by its white paint, had a length of 3.5 meters and a top speed of 380 kilometers per hour. The joyhopper system, added by Dusat, enabled the speeder to elevate noticeably higher than a standard speeder for brief periods, reaching a maximum altitude of four meters. The speeder was also capable of banking, facilitating navigation through sharp turns.

The speeder's cockpit could accommodate two occupants, allowing for a passenger behind the pilot. Both the driver's and passenger's seats included seatbelts. A socket, positioned by the engines at the cockpit's rear, was designed for an astromech droid to assist with controlling the vehicle, while the pilot used a stick in the cockpit to steer. The dashboard featured an array of controls surrounding a monitor that displayed data from the astromech droid. Another monitor and controls were located behind the pilot for use by the rear passenger. The speeder also offered limited cargo capacity, accommodating up to 15 kilograms.

In the early years of the Galactic Empire, speeder racers Thall Joben and Jord Dusat obtained a C/L-82 landspeeder. Naming it the White Witch, the two began modifying the speeder in their speeder shop on Ingo, intending to enter it into the Boonta Speeder Race, which would be their first major competition. For three years, Dusat worked as a mechanic, implementing Joben's designs into the speeder as they sought to create a superior racing landspeeder.

By 15 BBY, the White Witch was nearing completion, but one crucial component was missing: an astromech droid to assist the driver. Fortunately, as Joben and Dusat raced their speeders through the Vaj Desert on Ingo, they came across the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, who had been abandoned by their previous owner, the smuggler Zevel Hortine, along with his cargo while attempting to evade the authorities. R2-D2 was a perfect fit, and the two racers became the droids' new masters.

As Joben and Dusat tried to return to the speeder shop, they inadvertently entered the restricted zone surrounding the secret base of Tig Fromm, son of Sise Fromm and a prominent member of the Fromm Gang. Pursued by sentry droids, they managed to escape with the help of Kea Moll, a member of the Annoo resistance who was investigating reports that Fromm was developing a powerful weapons satellite called the Trigon One. However, the racers had made enemies of the Fromms, who feared they might leak details of the secret base to rival gangs.

Back at the speeder shop, the racers planned to test R2-D2 with the White Witch the following morning. However, shortly after Joben and the droids left for the night, muscle droids dispatched by Tig Fromm captured Dusat. Upon returning to the shop, Joben learned from Moll what had happened to Dusat. They soon came under attack from more muscle droids who had sabotaged Joben's speeder to prevent his escape. Reacting swiftly, Moll and R2-D2 activated the White Witch, allowing the group to escape.

Using the White Witch, Joben, Moll, and the droids gained access to Fromm's base. Guided by Moll and C-3PO, Joben and R2-D2 flew the White Witch through the base's network of service tubes and elevator shafts, rescuing Dusat and picking up the others as they headed for the exit. Fromm attempted to thwart their escape, ordering his droid cruisers outside to await them, after disabling his sentry droids to prevent them from attacking the cruisers. However, C-3PO used the security system to reactivate the sentry droids. As the two groups of droids exchanged fire, the White Witch evaded pursuing repulsor balls and escaped.

The incident had an unexpected benefit: Joben and Dusat had been seeking a way to transport the White Witch to Boonta for the race and found a solution when Moll agreed to transport them on her ship, the Sand Sloth, with the White Witch secured to the hull.

The journey was not without its challenges, as a hyperdrive malfunction forced them to head to Annoo for repairs. The Fromm Gang's spies reported the group's presence on Annoo to Sise, who vowed to deal with them personally. An attempt to capture them at the spaceport failed when R2-D2 created a distraction, allowing them to escape once again in the White Witch. Heading for the farm owned by Moll's mother, Demma, they stored the White Witch there for the duration of their stay.

However, the trip to Boonta was put on hold when the young racers agreed to assist Kea and Demma in their fight against the Fromms.

At some point, as Tig Fromm prepared for the launch of the Trigon One, Dusat and R2-D2 took the White Witch, accompanied by Joben and C-3PO in another landspeeder, to where the weapons satellite was hidden among the desert mountains. While Joben created a diversion, Dusat and R2-D2 boarded the ship and disabled it before the group made their escape.

After the racers subsequently stole the Trigon One, Moll was kidnapped by Sise Fromm's agents and imprisoned at his headquarters. Fromm demanded that Joben and Dusat return the Trigon One in exchange for Moll's release. While Joben and Dusat guarded the Trigon One, R2-D2 and C-3PO took the White Witch to Fromm's headquarters and rescued Moll, safely returning her to her friends.

After destroying both the Trigon One and Sise Fromm's stronghold on Annoo, the group resumed their journey to Boonta. As C-3PO and R2-D2 secured the White Witch for the jump to hyperspace, the Fromms attempted to get revenge by attacking Moll's ship with their one remaining vessel. They succeeded in damaging the engine on the Sand Sloth, but a weapons malfunction on the Fromm's rundown shuttle, the Voor Viper, allowed the speeder racers to escape before the gangsters could destroy them. However, upon arrival at Boonta, the damage the ship had sustained caught up with them, forcing a crash landing. Although the White Witch broke free of its restraints during the crash, it survived with only minimal damage. However, Dusat, who was supposed to drive in the upcoming race, injured his arm, forcing Joben to take over.

The racers also needed a place to repair the White Witch before the race. C-3PO found a solution when a droid called BL-17 offered the use of his master's garage. Unbeknownst to the racers, BL-17 belonged to the bounty hunter Boba Fett, who had been hired by Sise Fromm to exact his revenge. While Moll worked on repairing the White Witch, BL-17 tried to gas her, making it appear to be an accident. She escaped with the help of R2-D2.

BL-17 suggested moving the White Witch to a processing plant where it would be safe until the race. However, this proved to be a trap, and Fett soon attacked Joben and Moll. During the ensuing chaos, Tig Fromm and his bodyguard, Vlix Oncard, planted a thermal detonator on the speeder, which was set to detonate after the tenth and final lap of the race. Joben used the White Witch to lead Fett away from the others, heading straight to the race with Fett pursuing in his own Silver Speeder. However, Proto One, a droid the racers had met on Boonta, saw Fromm plant the device and warned Moll.

Fromm headed straight to the Boonta Speeder Race, where his family had commandeered a private box from its unsuspecting owners. By the time Moll reached the race track, the White Witch was already competing. With no way to warn Joben, it seemed Fromm's plan was about to succeed. However, Fett had followed Joben into the race and attacked him throughout, unaware of the thermal detonator.

Fett fired cables to attach his speeder to the White Witch in an effort to slow it down, but R2-D2 was able to cut the cables and free the speeder. Fett then fired a blaster at the White Witch, inflicting damage and causing smoke to pour from the speeder, but R2-D2 was able to patch up the damage and keep it in the race. As Joben continued to pull ahead of the competition, Fett stayed with him, attacking again with a magnetic beam. Fett's attack loosened the thermal detonator, which fell off and attached to Fett's pursuing speeder. Fett ejected in time, though his speeder was destroyed. Joben went on to win the race.

As Joben celebrated with his friends after the race, they were approached by Zebulon Dak, owner of Zebulon Dak Speeder Corporation. Dak was so impressed with the White Witch that he offered Joben and Dusat full-time jobs designing and engineering speeders, an offer the two racers accepted without hesitation.

A native of the planet Beheboth, Thall Joben had aspired to become a speeder racer since childhood, but his father forbade it, fearing his son would be harmed. Defying his father, Joben traveled to Boonta in hopes of entering the Boonta Speeder Race. Joben met Jord Dusat on Boonta, and the two became friends and business partners, running a speeder shop on Ingo. Joben designed the White Witch with the Boonta Speeder Race in mind and worked together with Joben to construct the landspeeder. When Dusat was injured upon their arrival on Boonta, Joben took over piloting duties and secured victory.

Jord Dusat was an orphan living on Boonta when he first met Thall Joben. Dusat challenged Joben to a race and was impressed when Joben defeated him by more than five seconds. After establishing their speeder shop on Ingo, Dusat worked to construct the White Witch and was supposed to pilot the landspeeder in the Boonta Speeder Race in 15 BBY. Although an injury left Dusat unable to enter the race, Joben's victory secured both men jobs designing speeders with the Zebulon Dak Speeder Corporation.

R2-D2 was an Industrial Automaton R2-series astromech droid. R2-D2 was discovered by Joben and Dusat after he and his counterpart, C-3PO, were abandoned by their owner, the smuggler Zevel Hortine, in the Vaj Desert on Ingo. With the two speeder racers in search of an astromech unit to operate the White Witch, they recruited R2-D2 to their cause. The astromech proved his worth by assisting Joben to operate the White Witch during the rescue of Dusat from Tig Fromm's base and later the victory on Boonta.

The White Witch was conceived for the Nelvana animated series Star Wars: Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO, with its name being used for the episode "The White Witch," penned by Peter Sauder and initially aired on September 7, 1985. The Star Wars: Droids opening credits featured a scene in which the White Witch, piloted by a white-helmeted individual and carrying both C-3PO and R2-D2, attempts to evade capture by a pursuing droid. This scene is not derived from any specific episode of the series.

Further details about the White Witch were provided in the 2004 article Star Wars Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO by Rich Handley and Abel G. Peña, published in Polyhedron 170. The article was illustrated by Jeff Carlisle, who had shown a sketch of the White Witch to Erik Mona of Paizo Publishing at a convention the previous year. Carlisle later included the White Witch, along with Joben, Dusat, and Mungo Baobab, in the background of the official artwork for Celebration Anaheim in 2015.

A toy of the White Witch was planned for release as part of Kenner's Droids action figure series. The company created prototypes of the vehicle, but due to waning interest in Star Wars at the time, the line was canceled before the finished toy went into production.

In 1986, Spanish publisher Editorial Gepsa released a comic series called MyComyc featuring characters from popular cartoon series, including Star Wars: Droids and Ewoks, in short, two-page adventures. These comics were unknown in the United States until 2013, when Dark Horse Comics Vice President of Publishing Randy Stradley considered republishing them. However, Lucasfilm staff were unable to confirm that the comics were officially licensed, and they are considered ambiguously canon. The White Witch appeared in the MyComyc stories Neutralizing Trigon I and Kea Kidnapped. The comics depict events not shown in the television series, and their chronological placement is unclear. Abel G. Peña, who translated the comics into English, has suggested that both stories might be alternate retellings of events from the Droids cartoon.