- "Now this seems like a bit of exaggeration, but I thought you should know that there was a Gran at the cantina making all manner of wild claims. Something about dark warriors—Sith, if you'll believe it—descending on a poor farming village in the mountains just south of here."
- ―The Traveler
A Gran male bounty hunter served as a hired guard for a village on the Outer Rim planet Genbara two decades after the failed Sith rebellion. When it was the site of a raid by bandits who followed a Sith named Kouru, the guards stepped in to defend the villagers after being signaled by the village chief. After Kouru killed their Trandoshan commander, a second wave of bandits killed most of the guards, the Gran being the only guard to survive the skirmish.
The Gran guard later journeyed to the city of Osou, where he went to a cantina and told stories of Sith warriors who had descended on the village. Wanted posters for the Ronin, the former Sith who defeated Kouru, were put up in the city, and he was then hunted by the Gran bounty hunter, along with others at Osou spaceport.
Biography
Ambush
- "Stop. Let him go!"
- ―The Gran, pleading Kouru to release the Trandoshan commander.
Twenty years after the unsuccessful Sith rebellion, the Gran bounty hunter worked as a hired bodyguard to protect a village on the Outer Rim planet Genbara. He was part of a group of several other guards, including a Trandoshan commander, a Tusken sniper, a Dug bounty hunter piloting a bladed probot, and a heavily armed protocol droid. They were hired within the context of three other nearby villages in those mountains being destroyed by what a local woodcutter described as spirits who did not accept settlers in the region. When the village was attacked by Bandit Troopers aligned with the Sith Kouru, the guards intervened to defend the villagers after the acting village chief gave the signal.[3]
The Gran fires at a bandit from a rooftop
The Gran, hiding atop the grand storehouse[3] Mamura's,[1] gunned down[5] multiple bandits, later coming down from the rooftop onto the main square. During the skirmish, Kouru emerged from the bandits' troop transport. After she refused to surrender, the Gran, along with the other guards, fired at her under the orders of the Trandoshan commander. She then activated her weapon, a lightsaber parasol, and deflected a barrage of blasterfire from the guards.[3]
The commander urged the other bounty hunters not to allow her to draw near. However, Kouru leapt into the square and pulled him toward her with the Force, lifting him by the throat.[1] The Trandoshan urged the guards to flee, warning them that they could not hope to overcome her.[3] At that moment, a new wave of Bandit Troopers emerged from the troop transport and fired at the bodyguards, prompting the Gran to flee the main square under heavy fire. As[1] the former Sith known as the Ronin,[3] who happened to be at the nearby Tono's Teahouse, walked the main street connecting the teahouse to the town square, the Gran ran the opposite way, returning fire against the bandits.[1]
Surviving the raid
The Gran surrenders to the bandits
In the skirmish, the bandits killed all of the guards except for the Gran. Two bandits with blasters drawn cornered him, prompting him to drop his weapon and raise his hands in surrender. He and the rest of the villagers were rounded up and taken back to the main square, where, prostrated on the ground, he was kicked and beaten by two bandits. When the Ronin activated a button on his wrist cuff, his companion astromech droid R5-D56 flew from the teahouse into town and launched a salvo of missiles that took down the bandits. The Gran seized this opportunity and blasted the trooper in front of him.[1]
After the Ronin defeated the bandit leader, he returned to the village, where he unsheathed his red lightsaber, to the surprise of the Gran and the rest, and gave the village chief the kyber crystal inside Kouru's lightsaber, which sat on the ground of the town square.[1] The Gran tensed where he stood, a few meters away, instinctively looking for a weapon, though he no longer had his on his hands.[3] As the Ronin and his droid R5-D56 left town, the Gran nodded at them.[1]
A handsome bounty
- "I told him that I peddled in the fantastic, but his story was simply absurd. I'd just met a man coming from that direction, after all, and he surely would have mentioned an event as remarkable as the return of the Empire's most hated foes."
- ―The Traveler, relaying to the Ronin about his conversation with the Gran
The Ronin and R5-D56 head to Osou, where the Gran would again meet the former Sith
After the incident in the village, the Gran set off north toward the city of Osou, where, at a cantina, he told others about the presence of Sith in the village. A former Jedi known as the Traveler was also present and overheard the bounty hunter's tales, countering that his story did not seem believable, as they had seen a man coming from the direction of the village who made no mention of any Sith. Wanted posters for the Ronin, offering a considerable bounty, were put up on the walls of a communal storehouse. Sometime later, when the Traveler met up with the Ronin and R5-D56 at Osou spaceport, they saw the wanted posters, prompting the Traveler to inform the former Sith of their encounter with the Gran. Shortly after, the Gran and other armed bounty hunters gathered near the Ronin.[3]
They recognized the former Sith and approached him. The Ronin escaped by leaping onto the roof of the storehouse. By this point, alarms rang and Imperial troops, as well as a resurrected Kouru, pursued the Ronin. As he again dueled the bandit leader, the sounds of their clash alerted the bounty hunters of his location. The Gran lunged at the Ronin in the dark, but missed him, tumbling softly into a canopy of cargo netting that the Traveler Force pulled so the Gran would fall on it. With the Traveler and R5-D56's help, the Ronin escaped offworld onboard the light freighter Poor Crow.[3]
Personality and traits
The Gran shoots a bandit
The guard was a Gran[3] male[2] who had flat teeth[3] and stood at over 1.30 meters tall. He kept a tuft of dark hair at the back of his head bound in a topknot.[4]
Skills and abilities
The Gran bounty hunter was proficient in the effective use of his blaster rifle.[3]
Equipment
At the skirmish on Genbara, the Gran fought wearing a mask with a hose connected to a cylindrical tank strapped to his back, as well as a hat,[4] light armor, and a blaster rifle with a bayonet blade.[3] His clothing consisted of a long-sleeved upper garment with protective overalls over the chest and shoulders, tied with a belt at the waist.[4]
The lower half consisted of loose, reinforced pants with protective padding at the knees and wrappings around the lower legs and feet. A large, circular symbol decorated his chest plate, and a fur-like material was worn under the cylindrical tank. The Gran's forearms were protected by layered guards, and the hands and one of the fingers were wrapped. The guard also sported an earring on his right ear.[4]
Behind the scenes
Detailed views of the Gran
The Gran first appeared in "The Duel," a non-canon short film released as part of the first volume of the Star Wars: Visions series, produced by Kamikaze Douga and released on Disney+[1] on September 22, 2021.[6] Before the short's release, he was first pictured in a video uploaded to the official Star Wars YouTube channel on July 3, 2021.[7] He was voiced by Shinya Takahashi in the original Japanese and by Neil Kaplan in the English dub.[1]
Originally designed by Takashi Okazaki,[8] the character also appeared in the non-canon novel Ronin: A Visions Novel, written by Emma Mieko Candon[3] and published on October 12, 2021.[9] According to Candon, all of the bounty hunters were deliberately gendered as male.[2] Concept art for the Gran, including frontal and rear views and a size comparison chart, was included in Zack Davisson's reference book The Art of Star Wars: Visions, published in 2022.[4] Although the Gran guard was labeled as the leader in the concept art,[4] it is the Trandoshan who was referred to as the commander in the short film.[1]
Concept art gallery
Appearances
- Ronin: A Visions Novel (and audiobook)
Star Wars: Visions — "The Duel" (First appearance)
Sources
STAR WARS: VISIONS | SPECIAL LOOK | DISNEY+ on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link) (Posted on StarWars.com) (First pictured)
Star Wars: Visions Filmmaker Focus — "The Duel" (Video clip only)- The Art of Star Wars: Visions
Star Wars Celebration - DAY 3 Replay on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link) (livestream no longer available)
Happy Star Wars Day 2025 on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11
Star Wars: Visions — "The Duel"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2
What Does the Fox Say (feat. Emma Mieko Candon): Ep. 22 on the RuPalp's Podrace: A Queer Star Wars Podcast YouTube channel (January 11, 2024): "[Editor Tom Hoeler] had left me this comment, 'Are you sure that all the bounty hunters in "The Duel" are dudes?' and I went, 'Yes, Tom, I've done that on purpose. I thought about it a lot.'" (backup link)
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 Ronin: A Visions Novel
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 The Art of Star Wars: Visions
- ↑
Star Wars: Visions — "The Duel" (Audio description from Disney+)
- ↑
Stunning New Star Wars: Visions Trailer Debuts on StarWars.com (backup link)
- ↑
STAR WARS: VISIONS | SPECIAL LOOK | DISNEY+ on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link) (Posted on StarWars.com)
- ↑
Star Wars: Visions Filmmaker Focus — "The Duel"
- ↑
A Warrior Wanders in Ronin, a Star Wars: Visions Novel - Excerpt on StarWars.com (backup link)
![GranGuardConceptArt.png (969 KB) Concept art for the character, with front and back views[4]](/proxy?wikiname=starwars&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.wikia.nocookie.net%2Fstarwars%2Fimages%2Fa%2Fa9%2FGranGuardConceptArt.png%2Frevision%2Flatest%2Fscale-to-width-down%2F185%3Fcb%3D20251028030920)
![YojinboComparisonChart.png (1.52 MB) Size comparison chart of the bodyguards[4]](/proxy?wikiname=starwars&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.wikia.nocookie.net%2Fstarwars%2Fimages%2F3%2F39%2FYojinboComparisonChart.png%2Frevision%2Flatest%2Fscale-to-width-down%2F185%3Fcb%3D20251022063505)