Talon Karrde

"I think it's occasionally good for us to remember that being a smuggler doesn't necessarily require one to be a barbarian, too."

- Talon Karrde to Mara Jade

Talon Karrde is a character from Star Wars. He served as a minor antagonist in Heir to the Empire after he and his second-in-command Mara Jade kidnapped Luke Skywalker. As a notorious smuggler chief, Karrde originally planned to take no side during the Galactic Civil War. Throughout Timothy Zahn's popular trilogy, Karrde debates with himself whether to remain an amoral smuggler chief or to become an ally with the New Republic. It was only after his hand was forced that Karrde helped Luke escape from Thrawn and Gilad Pellaeon. After Luke in turn rescued Karrde from Thrawn, the smuggler finally allied with the New Republic, and helped form the Smugglers' Alliance to oppose Thrawn, managing to foil Niles Ferrier's attempts to prevent Karrde from doing so.



Since the Thrawn trilogy, Karrde has been an off and on ally for the Jedi and the New Republic, though his role in the novels is still debatably legal. An example of his less than honest lifestyle is when he rigged the election in order to place pro-Jedi Cal Omas as Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance. Largely, however, Karrde has changed from villain (as portrayed in Heir to the Empire) to hero.