Jedidiah

Jedidiah was a male Velmoc who hailed from the planet Velmor. Early in his life, he was offered training to become a Jedi Knight, but he refused. As an advisor to the king of his homeworld during the reign of the Galactic Empire, Jedidiah predicted Imperial treachery in regards to the ruling of the planet, and he devised to stay with the ruling family instead of pursuing his dream of becoming a Jedi. Jedidiah's suspicions proved to be correct, and soon after, the Empire orchestrated a violent coup which resulted in the deaths of both the king and queen. Their oldest son, Denid, was also not a supporter of the Empire and was marked for death before Jedidiah rescued the prince and spirited him away from Velmor. The Imperial-sympathizing son of the king and queen, Anod, was kept alive, as the ruling Imperials knew that he would serve as a puppet ruler. In Jedidiah's escape from his now-hostile home planet, he and the prince crash-landed on a remote jungle world. Jedidiah pulled the prince from the burning wreckage of the ship, but when he returned to the crash site to retrieve supplies, he was hit by a large piece of debris. The accident resulted in severe brain damage, and Jedidiah was left with only the remembrance of his dream to become a Jedi.

Twenty years later, in 3 ABY, Jedidiah and Denid were discovered by aspiring Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker and Rebel leader Leia Organa, who were hoping to reinstate Denid as the monarch of the Velm system. The Rebels, Jedidiah, and Denid returned to Velmor just in time to stop the coronation ceremony of Anod, since tradition required twenty years to pass to declare Denid legally dead and leave Anod free to take the throne. The ruling regent, Zelor, was not pleased to see Denid alive, and he made arrangements to have the prince and his companions killed through the use of the Imperial agent Zeta Traal. After isolating the three Humans during a Mrid Hunt, Zelor attempted to kill all the parties involved in the pursuit of the throne, even his allies, hoping to claim the throne for himself. However, Jedidiah, having detected his friends' distress in the Force, raced to their aid. Just before Traal was about to hit Skywalker with a blaster shot, Jedidiah dove in front of the blast, sacrificing himself for the young Jedi. Following Jedidiah's death, Skywalker placed the Velmoc in a rocket-powered coffin and fired him into space, honoring the would-be Jedi with a final tribute.

Text and facts from the “Jedidiah” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.