Unidentified Tusken Raider guard

A male Tusken Raider bounty hunter served as a hired guard for a village on the Outer Rim planet Genbara twenty years after the failed Sith rebellion. When the village was attacked by bandits who followed Kouru, a Dark Lord of the Sith, the guards stepped in to defend the villagers after being signaled by the chief. When the Sith killed their Trandoshan commander, a second wave of bandits attacked the rest of the guards. The Tusken battled a bandit with their gaderffii stick but was gunned down.

Biography

On watch

Twenty years after the unsuccessful Sith rebellion, the Tusken Raider bounty hunter worked as a hired bodyguard^[1] sniper^[5] to protect a village on the Outer Rim planet Genbara. They were part of a group of several other guards, including a Trandoshan commander, a Gran bodyguard, 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.^[1]

The Tusken brought their bantha to town and kept the beast close to a^[2] fire watchtower^[6] where the camouflaged sniper perched themself in wait.^[2] When the village was attacked by Bandit Troopers aligned with the Dark Lord of the Sith Kouru, the guards intervened to defend the villagers after the acting village chief gave the signal. The Sandperson fired their sniper rifle from the^[1] fire lookout,^[6] taking out several bandits as a result.^[1]

Cover blown

During the skirmish, Kouru emerged from the bandits' troop transport. As the former Sith known as the Ronin,^[1] who happened to be at the nearby Tono's Teahouse, engaged in a lightsaber duel with Kouru, a bandit manning a turret on the raiders' vessel fired at the tower where the Tusken was located. In the ensuing explosion, the Sandperson was shot off the tower, falling onto a rooftop, and finally onto the ground.^[2]

The Tusken deflected an electropole thrust^[2] towards their throat^[6] by a bandit, taking them down with their gaderffii stick. As the Sandperson held up their gaffi stick and shouted, they were shot by several blaster bolts.^[2] With the deaths of the Tusken and the Dug guards, a voice inside the Ronin's head called his attention to this fact while he dueled Kouru.^[1]

Personality and traits

The guard was a male^[3] Tusken Raider^[2] who stood at over 1.70 meters tall^[4] and had only one functional eye.^[7]

Skills and abilities

Despite having the sight of only one eye,^[7] the Tusken bounty hunter was capable of operating a sniper rifle effectively, taking out multiple opponents during the skirmish on Genbara.^[1] They were also capable of riding banthas.^[7]

Equipment

During the firefight against the Bandit Troopers, the guard fought with a retractible gaderffii stick^[7] and a long sniper rifle^[1] with a metallic barrel and bamboo-made stock.^[7] When hiding in the tower, they kept more equipment in packed bags on the mount of their bantha.^[2] The sniper's inner clothing consisted of layered, thick fabric of padded garments, including loose trousers.^[7]

The outermost layer was a^[7] well-wrapped^[1] large ghillie suit^[7] raincoat^[4] covering the shoulders and body down to the knees. Belts and straps were worn across the torso to hold pouches. The guard also wore sandals, three layers of loincloth, a bamboo tube hanging from their neck, and a hat attached to the hood of their inner clothes, additionally containing four horns resembling those found in Tusken Raider masks.^[7]

Behind the scenes

Depictions

The Tusken Raider guard 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+^[2] on September 22, 2021.^[8] Before the short's release, the Tusken was first pictured in a video uploaded to the official Star Wars YouTube channel on July 3, 2021.^[9] The character was voiced by Takaki Ootomari in the original Japanese and by Michael Sinterniklaas in the English dub.^[2]

The character also appeared in the non-canon novel Ronin: A Visions Novel, written by Emma Mieko Candon^[1] and published on October 12, 2021.^[10] According to Candon, all of the bounty hunters were deliberately gendered as male.^[3] In the novel, the character is referred to with they/them pronouns.^[1]

Conception and design

Takashi Okazaki, who designed the character, indicated the sniper was his favorite among the guards, highlighting the Tusken's collapsible gaffi stick and their coat, inspired by those worn by the Matagi,^[4] traditional winter hunters in the Tōhoku region of Japan.^[11] During the production of the short film,^[7] storyboard artist Daisuke Sajiki^[2] proposed having the Sandperson fire the shot from the watchtower for a striking reveal, which Mizuno likened to a scene from Akira Kurosawa's 1961 film Yojimbo, in which Toshiro Mifune climbs a watchtower. The Tusken's movements in "The Duel" were inspired by the Tusken Raider scenes in^[7] the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.^[12]

The Star Wars: Visions Filmmaker Focus featurette for "The Duel," released in accompaniment to the short film on Disney+,^[13] shows a concept art piece for the Sandperson in alternate clothing.^[14] Further details, concept art, and a whiteboard illustration of the character riding their bantha were revealed in a two-part interview with Okazaki and Mizuno published on the website CGWorld on April 12 and 25, 2022.^[7][6] Detailed frontal and rear views and a size comparison chart of the character were included in Zack Davisson's reference book The Art of Star Wars: Visions,^[4] published on October 5 that year.^[15]

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)
• 2021 Topps Star Wars Chrome Legacy – Concept Art: Visions Card: #4: The Duel (backup link) (Picture only)
• The Art of Star Wars: Visions

Notes and references