Kaaldar was a Human male doctor in the employ of the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. Kaaldar genetically modified the highly infectious illness known as Bledsoe's disease as part of a intelligence program targeting the Rebel Alliance, which caused world-devastating outbreaks. Rebel agents Luke Skywalker and Anduvil eventually discovered Kaaldar's plot on the Outer Rim world of Tatooine, and destroyed his laboratory.
An expert in infectious diseases, Doctor Kaaldar was a Human male who used his medical knowledge in service of the Galactic Empire during the Galactic Civil War. In 0 ABY, Kaaldar became one of the central figures in an Imperial plot that stretched across several different worlds. At the behest of the Empire, Kaaldar engineered a strain of the highly contagious Bledsoe's disease that Imperial leadership hoped could help them win the war against the Rebels. Bledsoe's disease was a deadly illness with one unique symptom: afflicted patients developed a distinctive discoloration of the eyes. Kaaldar genetically manipulated the virus to encode a message in that symptom, creating something he called the "window effect": the victim's eyes, instead of their typical discoloration, turned into star maps, that the Empire would in turn examine to find secret Rebel bases for the Imperial Navy to target and destroy.
Kaaldar administers a serum for Bledsoe's disease to Luke Skywalker.
Using squills, a non-sentient creature that could carry Bledsoe's disease, the Empire purposely started outbreaks on several worlds thought to be leaning towards supporting the rebellion, both to undermine the planet's social order and to discover locations of Rebel bases. After an outbreak of Kaaldar's modified disease decimated the populace of Tay'ah'loo, Kaaldar moved his operation to a base on the Outer Rim world of Tatooine. It wasn't long before the Bledsoe's disease plot was noticed by Rebel intelligence, who sent Luke Skywalker, the hero of the Battle of Yavin and a native Tatooinian, back to his homeworld to investigate alongside an Ogemite operative named Anduvil.
After tracking the outbreak into the Dune Sea, Skywalker was inadvertently infected with Bledsoe's disease, leading to his capture by stormtroopers. The Imperial soldiers took the two Rebels back to their base, where Kaaldar refused to treat Skywalker and instead began examining the stars in his eyes. However, Skywalker and Anduvil overpowered their stormtrooper guards and took Kaaldar hostage, forcing him to administer a cure and reveal the secrets of the Bledsoe's plot. Skywalker and Anduvil escaped afterward, and soon put an end to Kaaldar's scheme by blowing up the entire Imperial base.
Although Kaaldar was a medical doctor, he held no concern for the welfare of the strain of Bledsoe's disease he engineered: he cared more for the mission of the Galactic Empire, and the information that could be gleaned from their symptoms. Kaaldar planned to completely withhold treatment from Luke Skywalker to that end, but quickly acquiesced when he and Anduvil threatened him with violence.
Kaaldar first appeared in Tatooine Sojourn, a comic strip story arc written by Steve Gerber and released in 1979. Kaaldar was illustrated by Russ Manning.
- "ComicScan: Coming Full Circle" — Star Wars Galaxy Collector 3
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia, Vol. II, p. 189