Obi-Wan never told you what happened in Defy the Storm and Temptation of the Force, but this article does. Before you read it, search your feelings: you know you'll be spoiled if you do.
"Would you believe me if I said I was a war bride?"
Jordanna glared. "No."
Cair cracked up. Jordanna waited through his mirth. He waved one hand, slowing down, and finally managed, "I did elope, with an absolutely gorgeous princess, but it was mostly about tax evasion, not true love."
That did sound more like a rich Naboo San Tekka. "And your princess brought you out to the frontier.
"In a manner of speaking. I was excited, and loyal, and interested in remaining close by." Cair put his hand on his heart and pretended to swoon. "It's the frontier. Romantic, you know."
"Yes, blockades and pirates and bad communication arrays—very romantic." Jordanna rolled her eyes.
Cair San Tekka has thought of himself as many things in his twenty-something years: "a spy, a musician, a secret husband, a security aide, a secretary, a punk kid, a troublemaker, a pilot, and now a smuggler and freedom fighter."[5] He's from the San Tekka clan and formerly engaged in corporate espionage against the rival Graf family,[3][note 1] but oops! He married one! Xylan Graf had evidence of Cair's spying, blackmailed him into marriage,[6] and now Cair actually loves him. (It's mutual, which is so annoying for Xylan.)[10] Cair debuted in Defy the Storm by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland, part of The High Republic Phase III.
In June 2024, Cair and Xylan were featured together on a Pride Variant Cover as LGBTQIA+ characters in Star Wars.[11][12]
Biography[]
Xylan put a hand on Cair's chest. "Some people have followed me to this planet who cannot know."
"It almost sounds like you care about what happens to me."
"I care what happens to my assets."
"It's sexy when you call me that."
"I meant my—"
Cair laughed.
"Stop teasing," Xylan said. He hated it when Cair laughed. It was too charming.
"When you do," Cair answered.
In the Occlusion Zone, Cair pilots a Graf-designed ship called the Brightbird, but uglied up and otherwise disguised to pass as a Nihil ship with the fake name Blood Vulture.[9]
Personality[]
Cair studied music on Naboo with "the uncles", Marlowe and Vellis San Tekka, and plays the hammered dulcimer.[1] (Despite describing a different instrument type, Xylan refers to him a "harpist" or a "zitherist", saying: "But 'the dulcimerist' is so cumbersome, and 'the hammer' somehow too subtle and too on the nose.")[2]
Which hand is which?[]
"That desiccating disease is unlike anything any of us have ever seen. We don't know if it's a new Nihil superweapon, or something unknown from Wild Space. I feel sick about going, but the Republic has to know about it. The Jedi..." [Jordanna] slid her eyes to Cair finally.
His face was drawn but still wore a half smile. "You want me to lend you a hand?"
Someone in the group gasped, another snickered, and someone else whispered what sounded distinctly like "ew."
Which hand did Cair San Tekka lose? In the amputation scene from Defy the Storm, he holds out his left hand and props his arm with the right,[7] but later in the book, he still has his left hand and is missing his right.[6] Early in Temptation of the Force, his left hand is a cybernetic prosthetic,[4][14] but later on, the narrative mentions the "wrist stump of his right".[15] Maybe future editions of both books will correct (or have corrected) which hand was amputated?
Whichever it was, Cair shows a lot of his personality by telling a dad joke about lending a hand when Jordanna wants to know if she can take the container with his severed hand to the Jedi.[13] And when Xylan is stunned and falls to his knees upon seeing that Cair has lost a hand: "Cair reached out and bopped Xylan on the cheek with the stump of his wrist."[6]
Character design[]
It was fun designing the look of him, reminiscing the old kungfu-soap opera characters, and mixing it with a modern look. The holo dulcimer is also fun to design as I imagine him playing it bad-assly, just like the harpist in KungFu Hustle! 🎶
Notes[]
- ↑ Out of the Shadows, chapter 23, by Justina Ireland established that "the San Tekkas and the Grafs were always at odds. There had even been a handful of holo adventures about their family feud, although the names were always changed to avoid lawsuits."
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 New Canon · Defy the Storm, Chapter Nineteen, by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland in the series The High Republic. Published 2024 by Disney • Lucasfilm Press.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 New Canon · Defy the Storm, Chapter Seventeen, by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 New Canon · Temptation of the Force, Chapter Fifteen, by Tessa Gratton in the series The High Republic. Published 2024 by Disney • Lucasfilm Press.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 New Canon · Temptation of the Force, Chapter Four, by Tessa Gratton.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 New Canon · Temptation of the Force, Chapter Seven, by Tessa Gratton.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 New Canon · Defy the Storm, Chapter Thirty-Six, by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 New Canon · Defy the Storm, Chapter Twenty-Nine, by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland.
- ↑ New Canon · Defy the Storm, Chapter Fourteen, by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 New Canon · Defy the Storm, Chapter Twenty-Three, by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland.
- ↑ New Canon · Temptation of the Force, Chapter Eighteen, by Tessa Gratton.
- ↑ New Canon · The High Republic (2023/Phase III), issue #8. Published 2024 by Marvel Comics. Pride Variant Cover for June 2024.
- ↑ Real World · "New 'Star Wars' Pride Variant Covers Celebrate Pride Month in a Galaxy Far, Far Away" on <marvel.com>. Published 2024-05-03. (Archived on 2024-06-03)
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 New Canon · Defy the Storm, Chapter Thirty-Two, by Tessa Gratton and Justina Ireland.
- ↑ New Canon · Temptation of the Force, Prologue, by Tessa Gratton.
- ↑ New Canon · Temptation of the Force, Chapter Forty, by Tessa Gratton.
- ↑ [Untitled] (Instagram post) by Ario Anindito on <instagram.com>. Published 2024-06-11. (Archive link)