Greedo was a green-skinned Rodian from the planet Rodia. He was typical of his species, having large multifaceted purple eyes, spines on the ridge of his skull, and a nose that tapered at the end. On his planet, bounty hunting was thought to be honourable and a good sport. Prizes were awarded to hunters of great skill, but dishonour was brought to those who drove up a bounty by allowing the prey to commit more crimes. This was known as ‘padding’, and was not looked on kindly by the Rodian Council of Justice.
Although peace reigned on Rodia for much of its history, there were times when violence would break out. During one such time, Greedo’s father, who was himself a well-respected bounty hunter, was murdered and his possessions stolen. The murder had been committed by a rival clan, and Greedo’s pregnant mother took him and his older brothers, Nok and Teeku, away from Rodia. Fearing more violence and death, other members of their clan, the Tetsus, fled the planet. They travelled on three large silver spaceships. They found another planet to live on, and led a peaceful life once again.
When Greedo was fifteen years old, he was exploring with his younger brother Pqweeduk. It was then that they found the silver spaceships in a mountain cavern. When he questioned his mother about them, she was reluctant to answer, but she finally gave in and told Greedo about the violent times in their history, and about his father. The young Rodian was astonished to hear about this, and was thankful that it would not happen again.
A month and a day later, the Rodian who had killed Greedo’s father tracked the Tetsus clan to their homeworld, and led an invasion. This led to the slaughter of most of the settlers.
When the invasion began, Greedo and Pqweeduk ran to the caves, along with their mother, two uncle, and twenty clan members. Pqweeduk took control of one craft, and the three ships took off. But one of them was destroyed, while the remaining two managed to hyperspace out of the system. Pqweeduk led them to the spaceport moon of Nar Shaddaa, where the Rodians made a home in the Corellian Sector.
As Greedo reached adulthood, he worked with his brother in the busy districts of Level 88. Growing up in the Corellian Sector, Greedo had picked up many skills, including petty thievery. As he was walking through the districts one day, the Rodian saw two bounty hunters taking out a rogue Imperial spice inspector. The two hunters were Spurch’ Warhog’ Goa, and Dyz Nataz. Greedo followed the two hunters and looked on as they were confronted by a huge cyborg called Gorm. Greedo saw his chance to gain some money, and maybe start a new career. He crept up behind the cyborg, and blasted it with a blaster he had found on the ground. The cyborg fell, and the hunters were so grateful that they cut Greedo in on the bounty. This gave the Rodian an idea, and he told them he could help them if they would teach him how top be a bounty hunter. They agreed, but reluctantly. Then Greedo told them of a cluster of Rebels that were hiding out on Level 88. The hunters saw that this chance could make them rich, and the Rodian planned to spend his cut on a ship of his own. He had already chosen one, and planned to call it the Manka Hunter. It was an Incom Corsair, and the mechanic, Shug Ninx, had already agreed to sell it to Greedo.
It was while he was inspecting his ship that he had his first encounter with Solo and Chewbacca. At Ninx’s yard, Greedo could not help stealing a pair of brand new Dekk-6 power couplings. But he was caught by Chewie, who brought him before Solo. Han admonished Greedo, and as punishment for trying to take the couplings, he took the Rodian’s rancor-skin jacket. Disgraced and embarrassed, Greedo stormed out, threatening Han as he left.
Greedo looked upon Warhog as a master hunter, and tried to learn as much as possible from him. But he soon realised how much trouble he had got into when the Imperials attacked the Rebels on Level 88. The bounty hunters and Greedo barely escaped aboard Goa’s and Dyz’s ship, the Nova Viper. As Greedo looked back, he saw the an entire quarter of the Corellian Sector explode in a brilliant flash. Greedo realised his family and friends were dead, and it was his fault.
Goa and Dyz decided that Tatooine was their best bet. They took Greedo to Jabba’s Palace, who liked Rodian hunters. He knew them to be ruthless and cheap, and to be good rancor snacks if they failed. Greedo saw this opportunity to raise his status as a bounty hunter, and begged Jabba for a contract. The Hutt was unsure, but decided to give the Rodian the exclusive contract on Han. Greedo was delighted, as he wanted to get back at Solo for humiliating him.
Han was on Tatooine, and Greedo had two chances to take the bounty, but both times Han walked away. Jabba was angry, and made the contract an open one. This made Greedo more determined than ever to capture Han. In Chalmun’s cantina, Greedo waited for the Corellian. He saw him sitting at a table with Chewie, then there was a disturbance between some of the clientele. A lightsaber was ignited, and then the disturbance was over. This made the Rodian even more nervous, and he was just about to confront Han when he saw the Corellian talking to Ben and Luke. When two stormtroopers entered the cantina, Greedo noticed that only Han and Chewie were left at the table. Then the wookie left, and Han rose to leave as well. It was now or never for Greedo. He raised his blaster and walked up to Han. He sat the Corellian down at a table, blaster pointed at him, and told Han to give him the credits he owed Jabba. Solo remained absolutely calm, which annoyed Greedo. This was not how it was meant to go. Greedo had in fact planned foe Han to give him the credits, then he would blast the Corellian and collect the bounty from Jabba, thus receiving twice the pay for one job.
But he was extremely nervous, and this showed when he fired his blaster and completely missed Han. Solo, who had already drawn his blaster under the table, then fired and killed Greedo instantly.
As Han left Wuher, the bartender, had a great idea. He retrieved the Rodian’s body, and took it below. There, he worked with his droid C2-R4, and used the flesh and blood of Greedo in their still. The resulting drink was extremely potent; so much so that Wuher was sure Jabba would pay handsomely for the drink.
After one glass, Wuher was already unsteady on his feet, otherwise he would have made a toast to Greedo, the only bounty hunter with any taste.