Melas (Sarkan)

This article is about the Sarkan smuggler. You may be looking for Melas, the Human Grand Marshal.

Melas was a physically deformed Sarkan who was exiled from his homeworld of Sarka for his gregarious and social ways, traits considered outrageous to the insular Sarkans. However, he absconded with a considerable fortune in smuggled metals and gems, allowing him to travel from world to world, seeing different sights and meeting all sorts of interesting beings. Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, Melas was a patron at Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina on the planet Tatooine.

Biography[]

Social outcast[]

Originally from the planet Sarka, Melas was born with physical deformities,^[1] resulting in a loss of status for^[3] he^[1] and his family. Melas thus spent his youth as an outcast, though his unusual appearance was not his greatest crime in the eyes of his fellow Sarkans.^[3]

Melas' people typically despised off-worlders, viewing non-Sarkans as primitives and savages. However, Melas actually enjoyed the company of aliens and Humans, eschewing the formal greeting protocols mandated by his government.^[3] Melas' gregarious and social ways were an outrage, and he was exiled from his homeworld.^[1]

Exiled traveler[]

MelasSE — Melas smokes his Esoomian *gruu* pipe in the Mos Eisley cantina.

However, exile did not pose much of a problem for Melas: Sarka was rich in precious metals and gems, and he was able to smuggle a considerable fortune off-planet when he was forced to leave.^[3] Melas used his riches to travel from world to world, seeing different sights and meeting all sorts of interesting beings,^[1] wanting nothing more than to see as many different species as possible.^[3]

About a year before the Battle of Yavin,^[4] Melas was featured in a Star Tours advertisement for the planet Tatooine as a patron at Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina in Mos Eisley spaceport.^[5] In 0 BBY,^[6] the thirsty Sarkan barfly^[1] was present in the cantina,^[2] seated in a booth to the left of the entrance and next to another booth containing^[7] Chachi and Ohwun De Maal, a Duros couple.^[8]^[9]

Personality and traits[]

Sarkan AE — Melas was a physically deformed Sarkan.

To the protocol-bound Sarkans, Melas was always a troublemaker,^[1] both for displaying curiosity in other aliens^[10] and his gregarious, social ways.^[1] Despite his wealth, Melas was not entirely unaffected by his status as a Sarkan expatriate.^[3] He missed his homeworld on occasion^[1] and often spoke of its lush jungles, jewel-encrusted mountains, and beautiful cave-cities with a melancholy eloquence that belied his normally optimistic nature.^[3] However, Melas' insatiable curiosity for what was out there easily eclipsed his bouts of sadness.^[1]

A broad-snouted Sarkan^[1] with mottled gray skin,^[2] Melas was born with physical deformities: Standing at 1.7 meters in height,^[1] he was unusually diminutive in stature for his species. He also had short,^[3] stubby claws and unusual,^[1] vibrant^[3] blue eyes that invited unwanted attention.^[1]

Equipment[]

Melas wore red and tan robes, along with a red^[2] turban.^[1] During his travels, he developed a fondness for smoking an Esoomian gruu pipe^[3] to heighten his awareness,^[10] and only rarely was he seen without the sweet-smelling device clasped in his scaly palms. Melas also carried a hold-out blaster and a credit voucher with 220,000 credits. He had numerous financial accounts totaling 2 million credits.^[3]

Behind the scenes[]

Creating a new character[]

"From the Ketwol creature I was also able to create another Cantina creature called Melas. Effects supervisor John Knoll noticed that the back of our Ketwol puppet's head looked like a completely different creature, so we turned it around, redressed it with new clothing, and shot it as a separate character. Two monsters for the price of one!"

―Howie Weed^[11]

Bies melas — Special-effects artist Don Bies manipulates the Melas puppet.

Melas first appeared in the 1997 Special Edition re-release of the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.^[2] The character was created by redressing the puppet originally used for the Pacithhip prospector Ketwol,^[12] which was designed by Howie Weed, chief creature maker of the Special Editions.^[11]

Effects supervisor John Knoll noticed that the back of the original puppet's head looked like a completely different creature^[11]—by covering Ketwol's trunk and tusks with a turban, using the back of Ketwol's head as Melas' face,^[1] and redressing the puppet with new clothing,^[11] a new character was made. Melas was shot and edited into the cantina footage, replacing Arleil Schous,^[1] a Defel whose off-the-shelf canine mask had long bothered A New Hope writer and director George Lucas.^[13]