Beilert Valance

Beilert Valance
Aliases:	Valance
Continuity:	Star Wars
Type:	Bounty hunter
Gender:	Male
Race:	Cyborg
Location:	Outer Rim Territories Shinbone Chorin
Relatives:	None
Status:	Alive
First:	Star Wars, Volume 1 #16

Beilert Valance is a cybernetic bounty hunter introduced in the original Star Wars comic book series published by Marvel Comics. Created by comic writer and editor Archie Goodwin, the character was expanded upon in the modern expanded universe and is considered part of the official Star Wars canon.

Biography

Beilert Valance was once an Imperial Stormtrooper who hailed from the planet known only as "Shinbone". Along with his squadron, he was deployed to the Telos-4 medical station on an outworld system. During a skirmish with Rebel forces, he was critically injured by an aerial torpedo dropped from an X-wing fighter. Valance's body was so devastated from the explosion that his fellow Stormtroopers left him at Telos-4 to die. In Valance's perspective, it may very well have killed him, for although he survived, it was only due to a complete cybernetic overhaul. Valance had always hated droids and other non-sentient "mechanicals", but to be turned into a cyborg himself was more than his sanity could bear.

Striking out on his own, Valance became a bounty hunter and formed his own hunting squad to accompany him on various missions. Valance preferred accepting jobs which required the destruction of droids. In some cases, he would even accept droids as payment, just so he could extract some small measure of satisfaction from blasting them into shrapnel with his heavy artillery.

In the months following the Battle of Yavin, Valance discovered a recording detailing the actions of a small group of Rebels who were responsible for destroying the Empire's super-station the Death Star. As these Rebel fugitives were now wanted by the Empire, Valance knew that capturing them would net him a hefty fee. Moreover, he learned how Luke Skywalker was frequently seen in the presence of two droids and regarded them as his equals. This was a concept so alien to Valance, that it filled him with even greater rage.

Returning to Telos-4, he discovered a patient named Don-Wan Kihotay mumbling to himself about his team of "heroes" from Aduba-3, which included a droid. He determined that this group must have been the fugitives he sought, so he took off for Aduba-3. Deep inside the Aduba system, Valance encountered a freighter ship piloted by the Lepi smuggler Jaxxon. The two ships exchanged fire, and Valance forced Jaxxon's ship to return to the surface of Aduba. His crew and he hunted Jaxxon and his friends Amaiza Foxtrain and Jimm Doshun through the high underbrush. They were able to turn the tables on Valance's party however by instigating a bantha stampede that killed all of Valance's crew. Valance finally got the drop on the trio, but upon discovering that Skywalker and his droids were not with them, decided to leave them in peace. He returned to his ship and took off, determined to find Skywalker and collect his bounty.

For the next several months, Valance continued his work as a bounty hunter, but now he worked alone. He accepted a job from a salvage shop owner named Skinker to bring in a renegade slaver named Marko Tyne operating out of the Outer Rim world of Feriae Junction. Valance found Tyne in a cantina and killed him with a single blaster shot to the chest. He brought him back to Skinker's shop to collect his reward - a cache of repurposed droids. Valance relieved his tension by destroying them with a single wide-angle shot from his blaster. Even this was not enough to completely satisfy him however. He asked Skinker to keep an eye out for Luke Skywalker and his droid companions.

As luck would have it, Luke and his protocol droid C-3P0 arrived on Feriae Junction only a short time later. Valance was not the only one in town interested in Skywalker though. Being the most-wanted fugitive in the galaxy, it was inevitable that he would garner the attention of several Imperial spies. A Kubaz spy located Skywalker and retired to his hideaway to broadcast the information to Darth Vader. Valance intercepted him and shot the Kubaz before he could give away his quarry's whereabouts.

Valance eventually caught up with Skywalker and a blaster-right ensued. Before collecting on Skywalker though, Valance expressed an interest in melting his droid into slag. Luke coaxed Threepio behind a blast door leading into a hidden room, but Valance used his palm-laser to detonate the door, temporarily stunning Luke and Skinker. When Luke revived, he ignited his lightsaber and fought back. Valance fired his palm-blaster again, but Luke deflected it, sending it ricocheting back upon its target. The blast struck Valance in the face, melting the false skin that covered up his cybernetics. C-3P0, in a rare moment of bravery, stepped in front of his master, ready to sacrifice his own existence so that Luke could get away. This tactic completely baffled Valance. He could not comprehend the idea of a droid and a human sacrificing themselves for one another. This gave Valance pause and he decided to let Luke and Threepio go.

Vehicles

• The Kill Switch: This was Beilert Valance's personal attack craft during the Marvel Comics era.
• The Broken Wing: This was Beilert Valance's personal starfighter in canon continuity shortly before the Battle of Yavin.

Notes & Trivia

• The character of Beilert Valance was created by Archie Goodwin, Walt Simonson and Bob Wiacek.

External Links

• Beilert Valance at Wookieepedia

Appearances

• Star Wars 16
• Star Wars 27
• Star Wars: Bounty Hunters 3
• Star Wars: Bounty Hunters 6
• Star Wars: Bounty Hunters 7
• Star Wars: Han Solo: Imperial Cadet 1
• Star Wars: Han Solo: Imperial Cadet 2

References

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