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"Just because I don't live in a big flashy city doesn't mean I'm stupid. What hai—you think we don't know what it means when Imperial stormtroopers start setting up a temporary garrison?"
―Chin to an Imperial Major in Hyllyard City[src]

Chin was a Human male smuggler and chief associate of Talon Karrde's organization. A native of the planet Myrkr, Chin was one of Karrde's longest serving and most-trusted associates, and served as the smuggler's chief of operations for Karrde's headquarters on the planet. An expert on Myrkr's native wildlife, Chin trained and domesticated Karrde's pet vornskrs, and was skilled in the removal of ysalamiri from their tree branches. He filled many roles within Karrde's organization, including caring for the vornskrs Sturm and Drang, and crewing aboard Karrde's main vessel, the Wild Karrde. Chin served Karrde throughout the entirety of the Thrawn campaign, and was still part of the organization during the Caamas Document Crisis ten years later. A skilled engineer and gunner, Chin would most often be found manning the communications console during missions. A veteran smuggler, he was middle-aged by 9 ABY, and in later years adopted a grandfatherly approach towards the new members of the organization.


Working with Talon Karrde

"Chin! Come and take them out, will you?"
"Sure. Come on, fellows. What hai we go for a walk, hee?"
―Karrde entrusts Chin with care of his vornskrs[src]

Myrkr, Chin's homeworld

Chin was a Human male who hailed from the planet Myrkr. He was part of smuggler Talon Karrde's organization, who had established his headquarters on Myrkr. One of Karrde's longest serving associates, Chin had extensive knowledge about his homeworld's native wildlife, and his expertise was put to use by Karrde. Karrde had acquired two native vornskrs, which he named Sturm and Drang, and Chin was responsible for training and domesticating the wild predators to serve as Karrde's bodyguards. Chin also understood the ysalamiri, mysterious Force-neutralizing creatures that lived on Myrkr, and knew how to remove the ysalamir from their tree branches without killing them. In addition to these duties, Chin also oversaw base security and operations.[1]

In 8 ABY, Chin was responsible for gimmicking the hyperdrive on one of Karrde's ships, the Uwana Buyer, so that the smuggler chief would have a legitimate reason to land on the planet Varonat on the Ison Corridor. Karrde had heard rumors that a Krish crimelord named Gamgalon was using Morodin-hunting safaris as a cover for other, more illegal, enterprises and wanted to investigate what said business entailed and whether or not he could get in on the action himself. Chin adjusted the power flux connector on the ship four degrees out of alignment, and assured Karrde that an average hyperdrive mechanic would take at least a day to find it. As it turned out, the mechanic—the former Emperor's Hand, Mara Jade—on the planet found it quicker. Due to a series of events on Varonat that culminated in Jade saving Karrde's life, he brought her into his organization.[4]

The Thrawn Crisis

"You can't just pull them off their branches, not without killing them. An ysalamir in this stage is sessile—its claws have elongated to the point where they've essentially grown directly into the core of the branch it inhabits."
"And you, I suppose, know the proper way to do it?"
"Some of my people do, yes. If you'd like, I could send one of them to rendezvous with your shuttles. The technique involved isn't especially difficult, but it really does have to be demonstrated."
―Talon Karrde offers Chin's services to Gilad Pellaeon as they discuss the proper removal of ysalamiri from their natural habitat[src]
Chin walkies

Chin takes Sturm and Drang for a walk

Five and a half months later, Chin was serving as Karrde's chief of operations at Myrkr Base when the planet was visited by the Imperial II-class Star Destroyer Chimaera, the flagship of Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn. The Imperial forces under Thrawn's leadership were interested in procuring ysalamiri from Myrkr's jungles. Karrde, in an effort to learn more about Thrawn's plans, offered the captain of the Chimaera, Gilad Pellaeon, Chin's assistance in teaching the Imperial personnel how to safely remove the ysalamir from their branches. The captain thanked Karrde for his generosity, and Chin, along with Dankin, took a Skipray Blastboat out to meet with the Imperial force. Karrde knew that he could trust Chin and Dankin to subtly acquire information from the Imperial shuttle crews, and was content to have some of his personnel watching the Imperials for the duration of their visit. Once the Imperials left the planet, Chin and Dankin reported their findings to Karrde.[5]

Shortly after the Imperial visit, the Wild Karrde rescued Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker from deep space after the latter had tangled with the Chimaera, damaging his T-65 X-wing starfighter's hyperdrive in the process. The Empire was actively searching for Skywalker, and had posted a 30,000 credit bounty on his capture. Karrde had declined from participating in the search, wishing to remain neutral in the conflict between the Empire and the New Republic, but finding Skywalker by chance threatened his stance. Chin was present with two other associates in the greatroom of Myrkr Base when Karrde met with Skywalker. As Skywalker approached Karrde, both of the smuggler's vornskrs—who used the Force to hunt prey—reacted to the Jedi's presence and began to growl. Despite Karrde's admonishment, the two beasts refused to back down. Karrde called upon Chin to take the vornskrs away, and he took the two beasts for a walk. Unable to decide what to do with Skywalker as most options would inevitably lead the Empire to believe that he had sided with the New Republic, Karrde was forced to keep Skywalker as a "guest" for the time being.[5]

A short while later, Chin was present with Jade, Wadewarn and Zakarisz Ghent at dinner when Karrde brought in two emissaries of the New Republic, Han Solo and Lando Calrissian. The pair had been attempting to persuade Karrde to contract his ships out to the New Republic for use as legitimate cargo haulers. Karrde had refused, citing the need to remain neutral, but did invite them to stay for dinner as a courtesy. During the meal, Karrde was called away and informed that Grand Admiral Thrawn himself was en route to the base to discuss the acquiring or warships and Karrde's refusal to search for Skywalker. Not wanting to be caught with several high-profile New Republic members in attendance, he arranged for Solo and Calrissian to be hidden, and for Chin to make the appropriate arrangements to receive their Imperial guests.[5]

Chin and Solo

Chin "surrenders" Han Solo to Imperial custody as part of their attempt to rescue Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade

During the Grand Admiral's visit, Skywalker escaped from the base in a BlastBoat, with Jade in pursuit, and both vessels crashed in the jungle. Karrde attempted to bluff Thrawn by claiming it was an internal matter, but the Grand Admiral became interested in the situation and suspected that Skywalker had been Karrde's guest. In response, he deployed a force of stormtroopers and Chariot LAVs to Hyllyard City to wait for the survivors to leave the jungle before the Chimaera left orbit. Karrde was forced to admit that Skywalker had been at the base to Solo and Calrissian, and the three formulated a plan to rescue the Skywalker and Jade from inevitable Imperial capitivity. In Hyllyard City, Chin and three others presented Solo to the Major in charge of the Imperial force. They claimed to have found him snooping around the edge of the jungle, and, aware that the Empire was actively searching for something or someone, had decided to take him to the Major in the hopes of a reward. The Major took Solo into custody, unaware of his true identity, and dismissed Chin and the others by promising them a reward if their prisoner turned out to be worth anything. As Chin cleared the area, Calrissian, aided by Karrde's associate Aves, staged an ambush on the Imperial forces that rescued the captives.[5]

Following their blatant assistance of the New Republic in Hyllyard City that could not be hidden from Thrawn, Karrde evacuated Myrkr Base. Chin was aboard the Wild Karrde while the vessel was hiding behind an asteroid in the Myrkr system observing the Imperial raid on the base. Chin was attempting to keep control of Karrde's vornskrs when they pulled him to the bridge of the vessel and began staring intently at Mara Jade. Karrde admonished the pair of them, pointing out that Jade was a friend, and suggested Chin take them below and walk them around the main hold for exercise. What Karrde was unaware of was that the predators had picked up on Jade's unconscious use of the Force.[6]

Karrde's organization subsequently decamped to the planet Rishi and activated a back up base that Karrde had set up in case of emergency. During the organization's stay on the planet, Mara Jade encountered a bounty hunter, Dengar Roth, who was actively searching for Karrde and his associates. Although Jade effectively dealt with the bounty hunter, Karrde was forced to retreat once more. While Lachton was assigned to dismantle the base, Chin led a team to repack the equipment dumps.[6]

As Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic intensified with his acquisition of Spaarti cloning cylinders to grow fresh troops and the legendary Katana fleet of Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers, Karrde found himself hunted by the Empire and reluctantly began to assist the New Republic. Chin was aboard the Wild Karrde when Karrde took the vessel to the Chazwa system to infiltrate the Imperial garrison on Chazwa to see if he could obtain information on Thrawn's cloning program. While in the system, he met with former smuggler Samuel Tomas Gillespee aboard the Kern's Pride. The Kern's Pride, which had escaped from the Imperial occupation of Ukio, drew the attention of a pair of Lancer-class frigates. Karrde ordered Chin, Lachton and Corvis to man the freighter's turbolasers and steamed in to rescue the Kern's Pride. Chin engaged the Lancers with his turbolaser, and both Imperial vessels were forced to retreat when Karrde and Gillespee called in their respective back-up fleets.[7]

Karrde set up his new headquarters on the planet Hijarna, and Chin was among the personnel at the base. To formalize an alliance between disparate groups of smugglers to oppose the Empire, Karrde arranged for a summit at the Fortress of Hijarna. As the groups assembled, Chin took Drang and Sturm for a walk near the Wild Karrde when he saw something moving in the shadows near the ship. Calling it in, Karrde and Aves headed for the vessel immediately. Chin commandeered some of the crew from the Etherway, one of Karrde's other ships, and begun search the south-end rooms on the ship while Dankin and another team took the north-end rooms. The search turned up no intruders, and Chin apologized for being mistaken. Karrde told him not to worry about it, not entirely convinced that Chin had been wrong at all. In actuality, Chin had not been mistaken, and had seen ship thief Niles Ferrier's Defel associate stealing aboard the Wild Karrde. The smugglers had come together in defiance against the Empire following an Imperial attack on their meeting at Whistler's Whirlpool Tapcafe on Trogan. Ferrier, in league with Thrawn, attempted to plant evidence that Karrde had arranged for the Imperial attack in an effort to unite the smugglers under his control. Karrde was able to prove his innocence when Ferrier slipped up, mentioning details of the raid that only the planted evidence documented, during the subsequent meeting of the smuggler chiefs.[7]

Chin and Karrde

Chin hands Karrde Sturm and Drang's leashes on Wayland

During the final days of Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic, a small team was sent to the planet Wayland to destroy Thrawn's cloning operation which included Skywalker, Solo, Calrissian, the Wookiee Chewbacca, and Mara Jade. Karrde learned of the mission from Leia Organa Solo whilst on Coruscant, the galactic capital. Organa Solo had recently discovered that Thrawn's cloning process relied on ysalamiri to create null-Force bubbles around the cloning cylinders to prevent clone madness, and realized that Skywalker would be cut off from the Force once he reached his objective. Organa Solo contracted the Wild Karrde to take her to Wayland to warn her brother. Chin crewed on the ship, and made sure Karrde's vornskrs were harnessed and ready to track the New Republic team once the vessel had landed on the planet. Shortly after, the team succeeded in destroying the Mount Tantiss cloning operation, and Thrawn was killed during the Battle of Bilbringi, bringing an end to his campaign.[7]

Later activities

Talon Karrde: "I suppose it hasn't occurred to you that startling a Togorian this way might be just the slightest bit dangerous?"
Odonnl: "Oh, come on, Captain, it's harmless fun. Mara lets us do this when she's on the bridge."
Chin: "Anyway, Cap't, these are a long tradition. Billey's folk surely cooked up something like it when you joined up with them, hee?"
―Talon Karrde, Odonnl and Chin discuss H'sishi's initiation ritual[src]

Chin stayed with Karrde's organization following the resolution of the Thrawn Crisis,[8] and was also part of the Smugglers' Alliance that Karrde had founded.[3] Under Mara Jade's command while Karrde was conducting business in the Gekto system, the crew of the Wild Karrde—including Chin—were captured by industrialist Ja Bardrin. Bardrin's daughter, Sansia, had been captured by the Drach'nam Chay Praysh, and Bardrin wanted to enlist Karrde's help in rescuing her. With Karrde absent, he turned to Jade. Although she initially refused, Bardrin persuaded her to undertake the mission by threatening to execute the crew of the Wild Karrde. While Jade went to the planet Torpris and successfully rescued Sansia, Chin and the crew of the Wild Karrde were rescued by Karrde with the assistance of Noghri commandos loaned to him by Leia Organa Solo.[8]

By 19 ABY, Chin was still part of the crew of the Wild Kaarde and regularly manned the vessel's communications console on the bridge. While on route to a meeting with Booster Terrik's ship, the Errant Venture, in the Nosken system, the crew decided to test the reactions of their newest crewmate, the Togorian H'sishi. Part initiation ritual, part test of resolve, the crew waited to see the reaction of the Togorian once the ship dropped out of hyperspace in front of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer. Karrde wondered about the wisdom of startling and possibly enraging a Togorian in a confined space, but Chin and the others convinced him that they needed to gauge H'sishi's reactions under stress to determine her suitability to remain a member of the crew. The initiation went as planned; H'sishi was momentarily stunned but went back to her duty quickly.[9]

A volatile situation arose at Bothawui, when it was claimed that Bothan agents had been responsible for deactivating the planetary shields on the planet Caamas on Palpatine's order, which allowed the Empire to bombard the world. As a result, Caamas was rendered near uninhabitable, and the Caamasi scattered through the galaxy. Only a copy of the Caamas Document could potentially resolve the situation without bloodshed, and the only one in existence was in Imperial hands. Karrde, however, knew of a potential source for a copy—within the library of his old mentor, Jorj Car'das. Karrde took the Wild Karrde deep into the remote Kathol sector, heading for the world of Exocron. Chin crewed aboard the vessel, manning the communications console as the ship visited Pembric II, Dayark, and finally Exocron, where they assisted the local Combined Air-Space Fleet in defending the planet from Rei'Kas and his slavers. Chin acted as the communications relay between Admiral Trey David, who was commanding the battle from the Wild Karrde, and Supreme Admiral Horzao Darr, who remained groundside. The battle was won when Car'das arranged for the mysterious Aing-Tii to enter the engagement on Exocron's side. Car'das did not have a copy of the document, but was in possession of valuable information that solved the crisis and led to a peace treaty between the New Republic and the Empire.[10]

Personality and traits

"I must have imagined it. Sorry, Capt'. Truly sorry."
"Don't worry about it. We all misread things sometimes. If this was, in fact, a misreading."
―Chin apologizes to Karrde for starting a seemingly wild-nerf chase aboard the Wild Karrde[src]

Chin with his Froffli-style haircut

Chin was a Human with light skin and black hair[11]—that was cut in a Froffli-style[5]—and a small goatee beard.[11] Hailing from Myrkr, Chin's speech was peppered with local colloquialisms such as "hee" and "hai",[5] and sometimes his sentence structure missed words entirely but he was still clear in his meaning.[10] One of Karrde's most trusted and longest-serving associates, Chin was one of the men that Karrde relied on on a daily basis.[1] Technically proficient, Chin performed a myriad of duties aboard the Wild Karrde, including as a gunner[7] and communications officer.[9] A skilled hyperdrive engineer, he was fully capable of gimmicking a hyperdrive engine and making it look like a natural malfunction or the result of sloppy maintenance.[4] Chin had an affinity for the animals living on Myrkr, and made use of his talents in Karrde's employ. He was also able to teach others his skills, such as removing ysalamir from tree branches.[1]

Chin was middle-aged by 9 ABY,[1] and ten years later he had taken an almost grandfatherly approach to the organization's new recruits. Still, he enjoyed indulging in initiation ceremonies of new bridge personnel with the other members of the Wild Karrde's crew.[9] Karrde trusted Chin implicitly, entrusting the care of his pets to the man. Being from a relatively backwater planet, Chin resented the fact that others questioned his intelligence just because he did not live in a big urban center.[5]

Behind the scenes

Possible Chin

A possible depiction of Chin from Star Wars Adventure Journal 17

Chin first appeared in Timothy Zahn's first book in the Thrawn Trilogy, Heir to the Empire, and appeared in the subsequent sequels Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. Chin was referenced in Zahn's short story First Contact for Star Wars Adventure Journal 1, and appeared in Jade Solitaire for the anthology series Tales from the New Republic. He would later appear in both books—Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future—of The Hand of Thrawn Duology. To date, Chin's only appearances in canon have been in works written by Timothy Zahn. Chin appeared or was mentioned in each of the comic adaptations of the Thrawn Trilogy. While his appearance in Heir to the Empire matched his previous description of a middle-age man, his portrayal in The Last Command is of a younger looking man. Jade Solitaire was originally intended to be published in the Star Wars Adventure Journal 17, but West End Games cancelled the issue before it was released. An image of Mara Jade and a male companion on the bridge of the Wild Karrde was to be included with the story; since Chin was the only individual referenced to be on the bridge with Jade during the relevant scene, it is likely that this male was meant to be him. However, since Star Wars Adventure Journal 17 was never officially published, the canonicity of the image remains unclear.

Chin also garnered mentions in Heir to the Empire Sourcebook, and the information was reprinted in The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook. Chin was later referenced in the second and third editions of A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, the Star Wars Encyclopedia, and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia.


Cut appearances


Notes and references

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 Heir to the Empire Sourcebook
  2. 2.0 2.1 The Last Command 4
  3. 3.0 3.1 Since Chin is a member of Talon Karrde's organization, and Karrde founded the Smugglers' Alliance, Chin was therefore a member of that organization as well when it was active.
  4. 4.0 4.1 SWAJsmall "First Contact"—Star Wars Adventure Journal 1
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Heir to the Empire
  6. 6.0 6.1 Dark Force Rising
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 The Last Command
  8. 8.0 8.1 Jade Solitaire
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 Specter of the Past
  10. 10.0 10.1 Vision of the Future
  11. 11.0 11.1 The Last Command 4
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