Coming from the planet Trandoshan, Bossk is typical of his reptilian species. He is three-toed and three-fingered, and has the ability to regenerate lost limbs. His eyes even have the ability to see in the dark since a part of them responds to infrared light.
Trandoshan sits in the same solar system as the planet Kashyyyk, home of the hairy Wookies. Although the Wookies are a peaceful species, the Tradoshans have taken it upon themselves to hate and persecute them. It was the reptiles who hunted them for their pelts, and even went so far as to point them out to the Empire as a good source of slavery. As a result Kashyyyk was occupied by the Empire, who subjugated and enslaved the Wookies. The Trandoshans gained from this as they offered their services in hunting down those who escaped.
Seeing as they were so adept at hunting the Wookies, it was
suggested to Bossk by his liege lord that he become a bounty hunter.
There were few, if any, hunters that went after Wookies, so Bossk would
be able to corner the market. Outfitting
himself with protective body armour various weapons, the Trandoshan went out to
hunt. His preferred weapon was a
blaster rifle, which had an unusual sling that was fastened around his neck and
under his left arm. It had to be
like this as Bossk had longer arms than humans, and so he would not be able to
use the weapon effectively without the longer strap.
After a short while Bossk had made a name for himself, and
was the scourge of the Wookies. The
once formidable creatures had a weakness, and it was a Trandoshan.
The galaxy’s underworld was a breeding ground for
smugglers and scoundrels, ripe pickings for bounty hunters.
One Wookie in particular was thrust into the limelight as a result of his
alliance with well-known smuggler Han Solo.
Bossk eyed up this latest hunt with relish, and he was soon on the trail
of Chewbacca. But try as he might,
he could not bag Chewie.
After several more kills and captures, news came that
Chewbacca was on Gandalo IV. He had
been aiding a small colony of Wookies to settle there, as Gandalo IV was in the
Outer Rim, placing it nicely out of the way of the Empire.
Bossk gathered together a few thugs and travelled to the rocky moon.
All of a sudden Chewbacca and the others found themselves
outnumbered and surrounded. They
were captured without much fuss, giving the Trandoshan great satisfaction.
Finally, the most famous Wookie of them all was his.
In a system nearby, however, Han Solo was visiting an old
girlfriend. In fact it had been he
who dropped Chewie off on Gandalo IV. Business
done, Solo was flying the Millennium
Falcon back when his sensors picked up the bounty hunters’ ships.
Doing just what the hunters had done to the Wookies, Han surprised the
group. He strafed them with lasers,
buzzing the hunters as he did so. Unfortunately
he was not able to target the hunters directly, as they were cowardly using the
Wookies as shields.
Seeing his chance to catch the legendary Han Solo, Bossk
and a few others rushed to his ship to give pursuit.
In his haste he foolishly left just two guards behind for the Wookies.
However Han had no plans to be chased and landed the Falcon on top of Bossk’s ship before he could take off.
This made the hunter’s ship buckled under the immense weight. Everything
started to explode and catch fire all around them, which did not help them as
they desperately tried to open the emergency hatches.
Seeing that they could not escape Solo flew over to the
Wookies, who had freed themselves of their binders and easily overpowered the
two guards, and picked them up. Looking
back, they saw that the hunters still had not escape.
Chewie turned down the chance to rid himself of Bossk, deciding to let
the reptile live with is utter humiliation.
It would be a few years, just before the events of the
Battle of Hoth, until Bossk got another shot at the Wookie.
Together with Dengar and a new hunter called Skorr, Bossk worked with
Boba Fett to find Solo. Han was
flying with Chewie and Luke on the pirate Raskar’s ship, which Boba and
company captured. Filled with
delight at this huge bounty, the hunters took their captives to Ord Mantell, but
did not reckon on Luke’s Force powers.
Flying to the famous meeting called by Vader, Bossk arrived
on the Executor hoping to catch the Falcon
and receive a huge reward. He was
slightly perturbed when he saw the calibre of the other hunters on board, which
included Fett, Zuckuss, 4-Lom, IG-88, and Dengar.
Although overshadowed by the great Boba Fett, Bossk was still confident
that he had some inside knowledge on the whereabouts of the Falcon.
It was not until much later that he learned that Fett had
captured Solo on Bespin, but was happy to hear that Chewbacca had escaped.
Even so, he would not get another chance at the Wookie for quite some
time.
Moving to the hunter’s planet Keyorin, Bossk and IG-88
agreed to collect the bounty on Calrissian for a lesser-known crime boss called
Drebble. Luckily for them Lando was
flying to Keyorin with Han and Chewie. Bossk
found them and a fight ensued, with the three heroes once again making good
their escape.
After so many years hunting Chewbacca, Bossk never caught
him. While in the beginning he
wanted to make the Wookie suffer, he would gladly have disposed of him quickly.
He was sadly beaten to it by the planet Sernpidal, which was destroyed by
one of its moons crashing into it.