Kaijura

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Kaijura were a huge, non-sentient species native to Burantia, also known as Planet WG4587. One was gifted to a leader of the group known as the Banished on the planet Sinsara, but the creature began attacking the Banished each season and killing many of them. Between 40 BBY and 34 BBY, Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi experienced a Force vision of a kaijura attacking a T-6 shuttle, which later proved true when he and his Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, were sent to Planet WG4587 to rescue Senator Bail Organa.

As foreseen, a kaijura destroyed the Jedi shuttle, but the pair were then able to escape a pack of the creatures with Organa in his CR70 corvette, firing the escape pods into a kaijura that reared up and grabbed the vessel. When Jinn was later poisoned by a member of the Banished, the Jedi Aayla Secura and Mace Windu traveled to Sinsara and slew the kaijura there in return for an antidote to the poison from King Gara of the Banished.

Biology and appearance

Kaijura were a non-sentient species of huge quadrupeds indigenous to the planet^[1] Burantia^[2]—also known as Planet WG4587—where they lived in packs in the world's forests. They towered over the trees of their habitat due to their size, and a kaijura's hatchet-shaped maw was large enough to envelop^[1] a 22.8 meters long^[3] T-6 shuttle. The creatures' tongues and the interior of their mouths were blue in color, and they could emit a roaring sound. A kaijura's head also included two large nostrils above the jagged-edged mouth and uneven nodules at the tip of its nose and bottom of its chin. Their orange eyes were relatively small and located in two rows of four at the rear of their head, one on each side.^[1]

Kaijuras' skin was yellow in color with turquoise stripes and spots running down the sides of their body, including their long, ribbed neck and their forelimbs, which were thicker in the lower portion of the limb and ended in a hand with four clawed fingers and a thumb. The stripes did not extend to the creatures' crested back or tail, which matched their three-toed hindlimbs in length.^[1]

History

A dangerous gift

A kaijura was taken from its natural habitat and brought to the Anoat sector planet Sinsara and given as a gift to a leader of the group known as the Banished there. Making a home in the wilderness, the creature grew to near maturity and then began emerging each season and slaughtering many of the Banished, attacking due to the suffering caused by its relocation. Although the Banished were formidable warriors, they were powerless against something of such scale.^[2]

Foreseen ferocity

Years later,^[2] the Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi saw a Force vision of a kaijura attacking a T-6 shuttle on Planet WG4587 along with many other visions while training with Grand Master Yoda in the Jedi Temple on the planet Coruscant at some point^[4] between 40 BBY and 34 BBY^[5] during the reign of the Galactic Republic. Yoda explained that some of these visions would come to pass, but others simply represented futures that might be.^[4]

Planet WG4587 remained uncharted by the wider galaxy until the CR70 corvette of Senator Bail Organa crashed there. Kenobi and his Jedi Master, Qui-Gon Jinn, were dispatched in a T-6 shuttle to rescue Organa and his crew, but after they located the corvette's transponder signal, a kaijura reared up from the forest and caught the shuttle in its mouth,^[1] fulfilling Kenobi's vision.^[4] Biting down on the vessel, the creature destroyed it, causing Jinn and Kenobi to fall from great height among the debris. Jinn was able to land on the kaijura's side and pierce its skin with his lightsaber, sliding down its length and cutting a great wound to reach the ground safely.^[1]

Escape pod pummeling

Roaring in pain, the kaijura slammed the side of its head down near where Jinn had landed beside an unconscious Kenobi, although the Jedi escaped the attack and fled to the corvette. An entire pack of at least nine kaijura then charged through the forest at the vessel, which took off and attempted to escape. One kaijura stood on its hindlimbs to grab the corvette in mid-air, so Jinn ordered the ship's captain,^[1] Jeremoch Colton,^[6] to fire all weapons at it.^[1]

As the weapons systems had been destroyed in the crash, Jinn instead had the vessel's escape pods launched directly into the creature, forcing it to let go and allowing the ship to depart from WG4587. Kenobi later wrote about the kaijura in his after-action report on the mission and mentioned feeling remorse at the idea of firing weapons at what he considered an innocent creature.^[1]

A merciful release

Jinn was later poisoned with the toxin emubara on the planet Mina-Rau by Corlis Rath, a member of the Banished. The Jedi Mace Windu and Aayla Secura then traveled to Sinsara to try and find an antidote for the poison, seeking out King Gara of the Banished. Gara promised them the antidote if they could kill the kaijura that frequently attacked the Banished. Secura was unfamiliar with the creatures, which were exceedingly rare, but Windu knew of Jinn's previous encounter with them and filled Secura in once they found the displaced kaijura in an area of rocky valleys on Sinsara.^[2]

Secura came up with a plan in which Windu acted as bait for the kaijura, calling out to the creature in one of the valleys. The kaijura, discolored and dribbling orange liquid from its nostrils, took the bait and moved toward Windu, allowing Secura to leap from the side of the valley onto its neck. After briefly losing hold of^[2] her^[7] lightsaber as she gripped onto the kaijura, she then drove the blade down into the top of the creature's head, killing it. Secura was saddened to slay such a noble creature, but Windu reassured her that death had been a release for the suffering beast. As promised, Gara then provided them with the antidote to save Jinn.^[2]

Behind the scenes

A kaijura first appeared as part of a Force vision in the first issue of the Star Wars: Jedi Knights comic book series, which was written by Marc Guggenheim, illustrated by Madibek Musabekov, and published by Marvel Comics^[4] on March 5, 2025.^[8] They then appeared fully for the first time in a flashback in the series' third issue,^[1] which released on May 14, 2025.^[9] The third issue was also written by Guggenheim and illustrated by Musabekov, but also included a cover illustration of a kaijura by Rahzzah.^[1]

Appearances

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• Jedi Knights 1 (First appearance) (Vision to Obi-Wan Kenobi)
• Jedi Knights 3 (First full appearance) (In flashback(s))
• Jedi Knights 7

Notes and references