Ketsu Onyo was a human female Mandalorian from Shukut who worked as a bounty hunter in the employ of Black Sun in the years prior to the Battle of Yavin. She was a friend of Sabine Wren and helped the cadet escape from the Imperial Academy on Mandalore. The two became bounty hunting partners before she and Wren parted on bad terms, and Wren joined the Spectres. After leaving Sabine for dead, Ketsu joined Black Sun.
Ketsu later resurfaced on Garel where she accepted a job from Black Sun to steal a GNK-series power droid called EG-86, who was carrying sensitive information. However, this job brought her into conflict with Wren and her rebel associates Chopper and Ezra Bridger. Following a struggle that ended in the space above Garel, Ketsu and Sabine reconciled and the two joined forces to escape an Arquitens-class command cruiser and deliver EG-86 to the rebellion on Havoc Outpost. While Ketsu declined Wren's offer to join the rebellion, the two departed on friendly terms.
Later, Ketsu helped the Phoenix Cell to obtain fuel from Horizon Base. She later aided the Spectres by fighting off Imperial forces during an Imperial attack on the rebel fleet. Ketsu's actions enabled the Ghost to land on the rebel flagship and deliver vital supplies to the rebels. Having refueled, the rebels were able to escape to the planet Atollon.
Born on Shukut in 22 BBY, Ketsu Onyo was a Mandalorian warrior and artist who lived during the Age of the Empire and studied with her friend Sabine Wren at the Imperial Academy on Mandalore. At some point, they decided to escape the Academy, Ketsu helped her friend escape from the academy and the two became bounty hunters. However, Ketsu alleged that Wren became "greedy," and left her for dead while she alone joined Black Sun. Meanwhile, Sabine survived and joined a group of rebels that operated from the starship Ghost and was part of a larger rebellion against the Galactic Empire.
Ketsu Onyo's tense reunion with her former friend Sabine Wren.
Several years later, Ketsu crossed paths with her former friend Sabine on the planet Garel. Onyo had been sent by Black Sun to collect the GNK-series power droid EG-86, who was carrying information of vital importance to the rebellion. The droid was scheduled to arrive on a GX1 short hauler at Garel City's spaceport. However, Ketsu's mission was complicated when she discovered that Sabine and two rebel associates, the astromech droid C1-10P and the human Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger, had already picked up the courier droid. Shortly after, Ketsu emerged from hiding and confronted Sabine.
After a tense reunion, Ketsu demanded that Sabine and her friends surrender EG-86. She also told Sabine that she would have been better off dead rather than joining the rebellion since the Empire had put a bounty on Sabine's head. Wren refused to back down and the two former friends prepared for a showdown. However, their confrontation was interrupted by the arrival of a stormtrooper patrol. When the stormtroopers demanded that they leave the spaceport, Onyo opened fire on the stormtroopers with her blaster; sparking a three-way gun battle. In the midst of the fighting, Sabine and her rebel associates managed to escape with EG-86 on a stolen shuttle. However, one of the rebels, Ezra, was separated from his comrades after falling out of the side entryway.
Ketsu was then surrounded by stormtrooper reinforcements who held her at gunpoint. However, she turned the tables on them and took the stormtroopers out in hand-to-hand combat. She then pursued the rebels on her personal starship Shadow Caster. In space, Ketsu quickly caught up with the rebels' shuttle and managed to disable its hyperdrive. Ketsu then shot open the shuttle's side door, causing a hull breach which sucked Chopper out into the vacuum of space. Satisfied that she made her point, Onyo brought the Shadow Caster face-to-face with the rebels' shuttle and repeated her ultimatum to Sabine.
Unknown to Ketsu, Chopper had survived the breach and had managed to use his rocket boosters to sneak up on the Shadow Caster. Having noticed that Chopper was sabotaging the Shadow Caster's main turbolaser turret, Sabine deliberately prolonged their conversation to give Chopper enough time to complete his work. When Onyo expressed pride at working for Black Sun, Sabine derided the crime syndicate as a bunch of enslavers and assassins. After Sabine rejected her ultimatum again, Onyo reluctantly opened fire on Wren's shuttle only to discover that her turret had been sabotaged. This gave enough time for Sabine to escape in her shuttle.
Onyo is offered to join the rebellion by the rebels.
However, Onyo managed to trap Chopper with the Shadow Caster's tractor beams and took him prisoner. Communicating with Sabine over the intercom, Sabine offered to trade Chopper for EG-86. Unwilling to abandon her rebel comrade to Ketsu, Sabine reluctantly returned and docked her shuttle with the Shadow Caster. Meeting face to face, Ketsu discovered that Sabine was determined not to give up the courier droid. She offered to split the bounty but Wren was not interested in profits and reiterated her devotion to the Rebel cause. Onyo was skeptical that the rebellion would succeed and responded that she was solely concerned with her own survival. After a tense discussion, the two former friends reconciled and Sabine forgave Ketsu for abandoning her.
Their reunion was however interrupted by the arrival of an Imperial Arquitens-class command cruiser, which had responded to the theft of the shuttle. Sabine quickly improvised an escape plan which involved exploding the shuttle to create a distraction that would allow the rebels, Ketsu, and EG-86 to escape on the Shadow Caster. Ketsu cooperated with Sabine's plan and personally evacuated her old friend after Sabine was knocked out by an Imperial laser blast. Sabine's plan succeeded and they managed to escape in Ketsu's starship.
Following their escape, Ketsu and the rebels traveled to Havoc Outpost where they delivered EG-86 to a group of Alderaanian rebels that included the astromech droid R2-D2. Ketsu then brought her rebel allies back to Garel. Due to her efforts in helping the rebels to deliver EG-86, Ketsu was thanked by Phoenix Leader Hera Syndulla, the leader of Sabine's rebel cell. Before departing, Sabine told Onyo that she would always be welcome in the rebellion. Ketsu then departed on the Shadow Caster.
Ketsu on Ammon IV.
Shortly there after, Onyo was hired to capture Jarret, a human male who had once worked as an enforcer for the Black Sun under the alias of "the Black Nail." After tracking him to the desert planet Ammon IV, she traveled there with a box full of Imperial blasters rigged to explode on request. When she arrived at Jarret's homestead, however, she found that the man and his family were already in a showdown with a Kruno's band of thugs. Faking exhaustion, Onyo allowed the thugs to seize the blasters and remotely activated the blasters, removing the gang from the face of Ammon IV. At first, Jarret moved to thank his savior, but the bounty hunter threw him a hard punch in the face, revealing that she had come to collect the bounty on his head. When Jarret's wife Loris started to plead for her husband's life, Onyo recounted how the Black Nail had been a sadistic killer. As it turned out, Loris knew all about her husband's dark past, but was convinced he had truly changed. When their son tried to intervene, pointing a skinny blaster rifle at Onyo, Jarret finally decided to surrender. Onyo found herself unexpectedly moved by Jarret's acceptance of his fate, as well as his desire to keep his son out of the cycle of violence. Realizing that her friend Sabine had recently given her a second chance in life, the bounty hunter decided to give Jarret the benefit of the doubt. Instead of killing him, she left with his ripped and bloodied shirt, so her clients would believe he was dead.
Onyo points out the location of the Yost system on the map.
Ketsu attended a briefing on the captured Imperial light carrier that had become the Phoenix Cell's headquarters. By cross-referencing several Galactic Republic and Lasat maps, the rebels found that the planet Berzite's moon in the Yost system was a prospective candidate for a rebel base. Ketsu advocated setting up a base on Berzite's moon on the grounds that the Empire did not have a presence there. However, the rebels were unable to make the trip since the Yost system was a few parsecs away and their cruiser-carrier was running low on fuel.
Sabine, who had been studying Imperial fleet movements, mentioned that an Imperial fuel shipment was arriving at Horizon Base. Commander Jun Sato approved of the plan and sent the Spectres to steal the fuel. When the Phoenix fleet came under attack from Imperial forces under Admiral Kassius Konstantine, Onyo used the Shadow Caster to clear a path for the rebel starship, the Ghost, to land safely in one of the carrier's hangar bays.
Ketsu saving the young Chadra-Fan boy.
After officially leaving Black Sun, Ketsu went with Sabine to Garel City. There, they planned to steal several food containers and supplies for the Rebellion. Ketsu and Sabine were then able to knockout several storm troopers with their helmets. They were then confronted by several blaster wielding storm troopers. Ketsu then rescued a young Chadra-Fan boy from a falling food container. She and Sabine then met with the Hera and the Ghost. After dropping off the boy, Ketsu then decided to join the Rebellion.
Ketsu then rendezvoused with Sabine and Hera at Garel City on their bikes. Ketsu's bike exploded, but she survived it. Sabine offered to let Ketsu use her bike to meet with a rebel contact, and Ketsu agreed but made Sabine angry when she returned and told her that she had destroyed the bike. Nonetheless, Sabine forgave her and helped teach her to make engine repairs.
Ketsu with other Rebels at Joopa Base.
In 1 BBY, the Spectres recruited Ketsu Onyo to locate the Weequay pirate and smuggler Hondo Ohnaka, an ally of Ezra. Ketsu managed to locate Hondo and his Ugnaught companion Melch at Joopa Base, a modified AT-AT walker that served as the home of the former Clone commandos Gregor and Wolffe. Ketsu and the others agreed to help Ezra liberate his homeworld of Lothal from Imperial rule.
Ketsu served as Hera's co-pilot aboard the Ghost during a battle with Governor Arihnda Pryces' forces at the Lothal resistance group's mountainside base. Following the battle, she along with Hera, Rex, Hondo, and Melch met up with Ezra, who thanked them for their help. Having captured Governor Pryce, the rebels then proceeded with their plan to drive the Empire from Lothal.
Ketsu with other rebels at Lothal's Imperial Complex.
With the help of an unwilling Pryce, Ketsu along with the rest of the Lothal rebels infiltrated the Imperial Complex, a mobile Imperial Planetary Occupation Facility that served as the Imperial headquarters on Lothal. After landing, she, Sabine, and Zeb then worked together together to unlock the doors to the complex. Ketsu also jammed the Imperials' transmissions, allowing the rebels to capture the command center. The rebels then initiated a faux Protocol 13 to evacuate all Imperial forces on Lothal aboard the Dome.
Before the rebels could launch the Dome into the sky, Grand Admiral Thrawn returned aboard his Star Destroyer Chimaera. Since the Chimaera was blocking their path, Hera ordered Ketsu to abort the launch sequence due to the chance of crashing into the Star Destroyer and destroying Capital City below. Since the Noghri assassin Rukh and the Imperial forces had disabled the Dome's deflector shield generator, Thrawn was able to bombard Capital City and force Ezra to meet him aboard the Chimaera to discuss his unconditional surrender.
In Ezra's absence, the rebels adopted Sabine's plan to recapture the north and south power terminals in order to restart the Dome's deflector shield. As part of Team A, Ketsu went with Captain Rex and the Weequay Hondo Ohnaka to secure the north tower's power terminal. Despite fierce opposition from Imperial forces, the rebels managed to reach the northern power terminal. Though Ketsu had no idea of how to find the over-ride panels to activate several bridges, she managed to find the manual override hatch and extended the bridges. This enabled the rebels to secure both power terminals and restart the Dome's shield generator, protecting Capital City from a second bombardment wave.
After a pod of purrgil under Ezra's command carried Ezra, Thrawn, and the Chimaera into uncharted space, Ketsu and the rebels launched the Dome into Lothal's upper atmosphere. As Imperial forces stormed the command center a second time, the rebels evacuated aboard the Ghost. Once safely airborne, the rebels detonated the Dome, wiping out the Imperial garrison on Lothal. This ended Imperial rule on Lothal.
Onyo in a cantina.
Ketsu Onyo was a tough, unapologetic, and ruthless individual. She was a close friend of Sabine Wren, when they both escaped from the Imperial Academy, Ketsu helped her friend. After helping Wren escape, the two became bounty hunters and hoped to work for the Black Sun crime syndicate. According to Sabine, Ketsu then got "greedy," left her for dead, and went to join the Black Sun by herself. As a bounty hunter in the service of Black Sun, Ketsu was ruthless, self-centered, and goal-oriented.
Despite her mercenary streak, Ketsu still could not bring herself to kill her former friend Sabine during a mission to obtain the GNK-series power droid EG-86. When Sabine chose to forgive her, Ketsu responded well to her friend's grace and admired Sabine's team spirit and devotion to the rebellion despite not believing a rebellion could ever thwart the Empire. She helped her formerly estranged friend to escape the Empire and deliver EG-86 to the rebellion.
Later, Ketsu decided to assist the rebels and recommended the Yost system as a prospective location for establishing a rebel base. When the rebels came under attack from Imperial forces, Ketsu sprung to the aid of her rebel friends. Ketsu later helped the Spectres liberate Lothal from Imperial rule.
Onyo was highly skilled with her staff
Ketsu Onyo was a formidable fighter who was adept at handling both blasters and close quarters combat. She wielded a staff that was both a melee weapon and blaster in one. On one occasion, she was able to take on several armed stormtroopers. In addition, Ketsu was a skilled pilot who owned an armed starship called the Shadow Caster that was capable on taking on other similar-sized ships. She also used the Shadow Caster to engage in starfighter combat.
As a bounty hunter, Ketsu was skilled enough to track down a smuggler like Hondo, whom she regarded as talkative. Ketsu used her technical skills to help Sabine open the Dome's blast doors during the Liberation of Lothal and later to extend bridges during an operation to restart the north and south power terminals of the Dome's deflector shield.
Ketsu Onyo was created for the second season of the animated television series Star Wars Rebels, and she was voiced by actor Gina Torres. The character's design was based on an abandoned design from Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens.