HURID-327

HURID-327, also refered to as just HURID, was a loadlifter droid that was employed by the Pirate Queen Maz Kanata to work as the groundskeeper and lugage porter of her castle on the planet Takodana, which was also its permenant residence. His duties included keeping the area around the castle and the paths that led to it clear of intrusive undergrowth and any heavy-weight work such as carrying larger items of luggage for select guests at the castle. The loadlifter also helped to enforce Kanata's rules and attending to her guests needs.

In 382 BBY during the High Republic Era, HURID-327 was part of a crowd in the castle's common room that watched the lawman Raf Thatchburn argue with Kanata's employee Alak. The fight escalatied to violence between the two when the Jedi Padawan Savina Malagán used the Force to throw a cup at Thatchburn, which the lawman assumed had been thrown by Alak. Kanata then arrived and broke up the fight, after which she spotted the prospector Dexter Jettster and rushed to hug him, telling Jettster that if he had let her know he was coming, she would have had HURID-327 prepare a tray of the prospector's favorite treats.

Years prior to 231 BBY, the Aloxian infant Qort was delivered to the castle's doorstep with a warning that he was dangerous. Kanata took in the screaming infant and placed him, still in the box that he had been delivered in, on one of the castle's table tops. She then asked HURID-327 to see if it could stop the infant crying while she fetched milk from the pantry. HURID-327 protested that it was already unsuccessfully trying to calm Qort, but as soon as Kananta left the room, the infant lept from the box onto the loadlifter's left arm and snapped the limb off.

The mobile baby then procceeded to beat HURID-327 with its own severed arm and reduced the groundskeeper to a pile of still active parts before fleeing to the castle's basement. Kanata eventually returned and discovered the damaged HURID-327, who informed her of where Qort had gone. Kanata found the infant wearing the skull of a vonduun crab that calmed him. After finding the mask, Qort ceased causing destruction, but as HURID-327 tickled the infant on a table in the castle sometime later, the young Aloxian began using the Force to lift small animals around the room, alerting Kanata to the fact that he was Force-sensitive. Kanata then contacted Malagán about the infant, and Qort left the castle to join the Jedi Order.

Centuries later in 34 ABY, HURID-327 was still working for Kanata at the castle. While leaving the castle to walk to its ship, the loadlifter passed a group consisting of the humans Han Solo, Rey, and Finn, and the astromech droid BB-8 as they entered the castle in search of Kanata. Shortly after the group's arrival, the First Order arrived on Takodana and attacked the castle while searching for BB-8. The structure was destroyed, but Kanata, the group, and various patrons survived the incident.

At some point after the castle's destruction, the B1-series battle droid R0-GR wrote about HURID-327 in the book he compiled title "droidography" and claimed that one look at HURID-327 had caused many potential visitors to Kanata's castle to turn around and head home instead. A mention and illustration of HURID-327 was also included in an artist's journal, which was restored, expanded, and displayed by the Graf Archive at some point after 34 ABY.

HURID-327 was a simple, older model of loadlifter with red plating and was able to communicate only via a binary acoustic signaller, although this did not prevent the droid from speaking Galactic Basic. An oddly jovial droid, he had a gentle sense of humor, but was known to be a little lazy.

HURID-327's tall stature required repulsor supports that generated a counterweight and the loadlifter had a repulsor anchor disc mounted on each shoulder. These counterbalances ensured that there was the same weight on both sides of HURID-327's body even when an item he was carrying shifted in transit, which helped the droid luggage porter stay upright when carrying off-balance items. HURID-327's body core was also gyrostablized, as suggested by the high position of its main receptors, which were red in color.

HURID-327 had reinforced articulation with two weight-distributing legs and two arms with cargo support joints at the elbows. Each of his strong, prehensile hands had three heavy-duty, jointed industrial manipulators fingers and a equally chunky thumb, meaning he rarely lost his grip.

HURID-327 was created to appear in the sequel trilogy film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, which was released on December 18, 2015. Prior to the film's release, the droid debuted in a trailer for Episode VII on October 19, 2015. Concept art of the character titled "Castle Droid H027" was created by senior sculpter Luke Fisher on November 26, 2013.

Creature creative supervisor Neal Scanlan suggested that they put a stilt-walker inside the HURID-327 costume and, although Fisher thought the idea was mad, circus performer Katy Coleman, who worked under the name "Katy Cartwheel," was picked for the role. The costume was then built around her by the fabricators and the mechanical department in order to ensure that she could move around and see while comfortable and with enough time to create a good performance. During production, the character was known as "Big Red," with its in-universe identification of HURID-327 first provided by the reference book Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary, which was written by Pablo Hidalgo and released on the same day as the film.

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