Brea Tonnika

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

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"There are times when one realizes how convoluted the galactic underworld is. One such occasion was researching the Tonnika Sisters on Mos Eisley."

―Alliance historian Voren Na'al^[3]

Brea Tonnika was a Kiffar female and identical twin of Senni Tonnika. The two were known as the Tonnika sisters and became infamous con artists under the New Order.

In 0 BBY, they earned additional fame for being in the Mos Eisley Cantina when Luke Skywalker first met Han Solo, but in fact, the "Tonnika sisters" in the Cantina were the Mistryl Shadow Guard warriors Shada D'ukal and Karoly D'ulin, masquerading as Brea and Senni in the course of a mission.

Biography

Early years

A mugshot of Brea Tonnika viewed in the on during the — A mugshot of Brea Tonnika viewed in the Jedi Archives on Coruscant during the Clone Wars

Brea Tonnik and her sister Senni grew up on the colony of Kiffex. After being abandoned by their parents in early childhood, the sisters were raised by the colonists in safety and with affection, but they were led astray through a desire for money which their homeworld could not offer. When a young scout pilot arrived on Kiffex to take on provisions, the teenage twins persuaded him to take them offworld with them, claiming falsely that they had been maltreated by the colonists.^[4]^[1]

As early as the Clone Wars, Brea was already a criminal wanted for murder. At the time she had been spotted on Coruscant.^[2]

Career as con-artists

Over the following years, the Tonnika sisters acquired a reputation among the galaxy's leading con artists, running several notorious scams against high-society targets, ranging from crime lords to members of the Galactic Empire's new elite.^[4] During this time, they were pursued by the Kiffex security officer Vul Tazaene, who was in love with one of the twins but was not sure which one.^[5]

On one occassion, Han Solo—who had come to know the sisters through his dealings with Jabba Desilijic Tiure—persuaded them to help him play a trick on the smooth-talking scoundrel. Solo arranged for Calrissian to meet "Bresenni" in The High Stakes Casino on the planet Balfron, and although Calrissian thought that his new "girlfriend" suffered from severe personality shifts as the sisters swapped around in the role, he genuinely believed that he was growing close to her when Brea and Senni revealed the deception. As he watched a holo-message from Han, Calrissian was at first dejected and angry, but quickly softened, although he vowed to get even with Solo for the stunt.^[6]

On another occasion, the Tonnika sisters conned Grand Moff Argon out of twenty-five thousand credits, and in 0 BBY, just before the Battle of Yavin, they were on Tatooine to attend a party thrown by Jabba Desilijic Tiure at his palace on the edge of the Dune Sea.^[4]

Around this time, the Mistryl Shadow Guard warriors Shada D'ukal and Karoly D'ulin began impersonating the Tonnika sisters, with D'ukal assuming the identity of Brea Tonnika. This led to them being arrested by Colonel Parq on behalf of Grand Moff Argon, believing them to be the real twins.^[7]

The Tonnika sisters themselves eluded capture, despite the efforts of Argon's agents, and continued to operate as con artists. After the Battle of Endor, the Tonnika sisters became affiliated with Lando's Commandos.^[8] The true identities of the Mistryl "Tonnika sisters" were not disclosed in Winward's report to the Rebellion, and would go unrevealed to Rebel/New Republic personnel until D'ukal petitioned Leia Organa Solo to join the New Republic during the Caamas Document crisis.^[9]

Behind the scenes

and disguised as the Tonnika sisters. — Karoly D'ulin and Shada D'ukal disguised as the Tonnika sisters.

In A New Hope, two tall girls appear together in the Cantina scene, wearing matching catsuits, and with braided hair piled high on their heads. Played by real-life friends Christine Hewett and Angela Staines, they were known by the simple production nickname "Space Girls"^[10]

Christine Hewett has since been identified as portraying Shada D'ukal, disguised as Brea Tonnika^[11] with Angela Staines portraying Karoly D'ulin, disguised as Senni Tonnika in 1977's Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.^[11]

It is sometimes thought by fans that the girl who kisses Han in the ANH rough-cut is one of the Tonnika sisters. In fact, this "Cantina Girl" is a different character known only as Jenny, played by actress Jenny Cresswell.

In Galaxy Guide 1: A New Hope, these characters were identified as the interplanetary con-artistes Brea and Senni Tonnika, but the article insisted that the sisters were identical twins, both 1.6 meters tall, while the characters seen on screen were visibly different in height and appearance. Hence, Timothy Zahn's short story Hammertong: The Tale of the "Tonnika Sisters" established a retcon that identified the girls in the Mos Eisley Cantina as Shada D'ukal and Karoly D'ulin, disguised as the Tonnika sisters.

This retcon was possible due to the original Galaxy Guide material being presented from an in-universe perspective, as the work of Voren Na'al. Subsequently, however, the Galaxy Guide version of events has been further undermined by the depiction of Kiffex in the Star Wars: Republic comics, particularly in the Darkness storyline, which is largely set on the prison-world.