Qyzen Fess was a male Trandoshan hunter who allied with the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order during the time of the Cold War and the Galactic War. Unlike many of his kind, he did not become a mercenary, but instead chose the traditional path of a big-game hunter, pitting his skills against the deadliest predators the galaxy had to offer. As such, he became a famed hunter and tracker, with his travels taking him from the swamps of Belkadan to the deserts of Tatooine in search of prey. He lost his right eye during one such hunt, and replaced it with a cybernetic prosthesis. Fess bartered his trophies in exchange for supplies and passage to new hunting grounds, and carried few personal possessions. Instead, he kept hold of only his weapons and a tally of his kills that he offered to the Scorekeeper. His hunting trips occasionally brought him into conflict with other sentient beings, including criminals, Mandalorians and even Jedi Masters, with such experiences making him slow to trust outsiders. However, whenever he did make a friend, Qyzen would defend such individuals with his life.
Qyzen Fess was the son of an unknown Trandoshan big-game hunter who died in the sands of Tatooine while hunting his prey. Unlike many of his fellow Trandoshans, Fess rejected the life of a mercenary and instead chose to honor both his father and the Scorekeeper, the Trandoshan goddess, by choosing the path of a big-game hunter. Fess took great pride in pitting his skills against some of the galaxy's most dangerous creatures and racked up a lot of Jagannath points to honor his goddess. His travels had taken him to Tatooine; Kashyyyk, where he spent three weeks in the Shadowlands and encountered a beast that blocked his infrared vision and cost him his right eye; and Belkadan, where he met Jedi Master Yuon Par.
Qyzen in the Jedi Temple on Tython
Fess became close to Master Par, and he would often travel to the Jedi Temple on Tython to visit his friend. Par's friendship with Fess was not universally accepted by the rest of the Jedi Order; some members even called him a beast and refused to tolerate his presence on the Temple grounds if Par was not at the Temple.
In 3643 BBY Fess visited Master Par on Tython at the same moment that Par had received her new Padawan learner, a promising young Jedi Consular who had received the assignment to track down four lost Jedi Holocrons. The Padawan could only recover three of the four recordings; the fourth was taken by a Force-sensitive Twi'lek named Nalen Raloch. Through the missing holocron, Raloch had discovered the same secret that the Padawan had uncovered from his investigations: that a man named Rajivari had turned on the newly formed Jedi Order and created a powerful artifact called the Fount of Rajivari. Raloch was slowly being corrupted by the dark side through this discovery and was opposing the Padawan's attempts to find the Fount of Rajivari and use it for himself.
Willing to help Par and her Padawan stop Raloch from finding and using the Fount, Fess offered to help the Padawan locate Raloch and his followers by scouting a network of caves he had traveled before. It was here tragedy struck for the Trandoshan. Overcome with enemies, Fess was captured and caged by several of Raloch's followers. Fess's capture meant that his points, kills gathered from his hunting, were lost to him, and this caused him great shame and embarrassment. Fess was rescued by the Padawan, who went to search for Fess after Par expressed concern that Fess had not yet returned from his scouting trip. Impressed by the Padawan's ability to empathize about his shame in his capture and lost points, Fess came to believe that the Padawan was the Scorekeeper's Herald, a physical avatar of the Scorekeeper herself. Fess pledged his loyalty to the newly dubbed Herald and decided to accompany the Herald in order to start the process of regaining his lost points. The duo tracked down Rajivari's fount, which ended up being the Force ghost of Rajivari himself. Rajivari explained that he was the one who corrupted and manipulated Nalen Raloch as his tool to destroy the Jedi Order, and because he deemed Raloch too weak for his purposes, he tried to corrupt the Herald's way of viewing the Jedi Order as well.
Having gotten the information they needed, the pair eventually confronted and defeated Raloch at the Forge, then returned to the Jedi Temple. Fess was outraged over how Raloch had been spared and admitted into the Jedi Order after robbing him of his Score, but ultimately accepted it out of respect for Youn Par and the Consular. For dealing with Raloch's threat, Yuon Par swore in her former Padawan as a Jedi Knight in front of the Jedi Council, but promptly fainted.
Qyzen while travelling with the Scorekeeper's Herald
While the Jedi Council and the Herald were wondering what caused Par's sudden collapse, Fess stated that he knew something was wrong with her, and that she had said she was determined to train one last Padawan before her illness overtook her. The Jedi demanded to know why Fess never divulged this information, and he stated it was because every Jedi except Par and the Herald treated him poorly in the past, and so he had no reason to tell them anything. Par was sent to Coruscant by the Jedi Council to receive medical care and figure out the cause of her illness; Fess and the Herald were determined to accompany Par on her journey.
On Coruscant, Par was turned over to a scientist in the Senate Building for observation. Par began exhibiting strange behavior and delusions, such as coming under the belief that Fess and the Herald had been killed by Flesh Raiders on Tython, her repetition of the phrase "The darkness is coming..." and at one point, she even physically attacked Fess and the Herald with her lightsaber. The Herald deduced that the disease was born through the Force, and the scientist instructed the Herald and Fess to embark on a mission to find the three Noetikons: the Noetikon of Science, the Noetikon of Secrets, and the Noetikon of Light. The scientist hoped that the secret to whatever illness Par was suffering could be found inside at least one of the Noetikons.
Fess and the Herald tracked down each of the three Noetikons, but individually, they did not have the answer to diagnose Par's illness. Fess and the Herald were instructed by the Noetikons to go into the abandoned Jedi Temple and place the three Noetikons on a specially made machine that will link the knowledge between all three in the hopes that it would provide a cure. Fess and the Herald fought through several Imperial troops that were guarding the Temple to reach the machine that would unite the knowledge of the Noetikons. Once placed into the machine, all three Noetikons diagnosed par's illness as a dark side mind control technique and instructed the Herald on how to use a force shielding technique to shield those affected from dark side control. The Noetikons warned that the last person who used this technique died; Fess expressed confidence to the Noetikons in the Herald's ability and loyalty to Par.
Shortly after the Herald learned the shielding technique, a Sith Lord entered the temple in an attempt to stop the Herald from learning the technique. While he was too late to stop the Herald from learning it, he used Force lightning on the machine housing the Noetikons, destroying it so that no one else could learn the technique. To prevent the knowledge of the shielding technique from leaving the temple, Fess and the Herald were attacked by the Sith Lord and two of his acolytes. The pair emerged victorious and returned to the Senate Building and performed the shielding technique on Par, which drained a lot of life energy out of the Herald. News of Par's cure reached the Jedi Temple on Tython, and the Council informed the Herald and Fess that reports had been coming in from Taris of another Jedi Master with similar symptoms to those displayed by Par.
During the Eternal Empire's Conquest, the Herald went missing. Some time afterward, Qyzen became the leader of the Warstalkers and later joined the Outlander's Alliance, which was dedicated to bringing the Eternal Throne down.
Qyzen armed with his techstaff
Qyzen Fess was a hunter, tracker, and trapper. He had been hunting prey for years, often going from planet to planet in search of prey. Unlike many other Trandoshans, Fess disliked mercenary work; this was due to a conflict with his sense of honor. He did not kill weak prey, as he deemed them unworthy of his skill, and did not like strong enemies being left alive.
Fess was strictly devoted to his goddess, the Scorekeeper, and viewed the loss of his eye during his encounter with the beast in the Shadowlands as the Scorekeeper's lesson in humility and overconfidence; thus, he chose to remain half-blind for the rest of his life. He felt great shame in having been captured on Tython and losing all his points, and the shame of his capture lingered until he visited his father's remains on Tatooine.
From the various people he encountered on his travels, not all of them honorable, Fess was hesitant to make friends. Once he found someone he liked and trusted, he was loyal and defended them with his life.
Qyzen did bounty hunting for a short time with Braden and Mako. Mako stated that if he hunted criminals and not animals, he would have been a household name.
Concept art of Qyzen Fess
Qyzen is the starting companion character for the Jedi Consular class in Star Wars: The Old Republic, acquired near the end of the starting experience. Prior to Update 4.0, he functioned as a melee tank.
While his official art depicts him holding a gun, in-game he uses a techblade and a shield generator as his weapons.
Three phrases of Aurebesh are on Qyzen's biography page on the official Old Republic website; when transliterated, they say "Shadowlands beast," "Herald of the Scorekeeper" and "Bones in the desert." "Shadowlands beast" references the creature that took his eye, "Herald of the Scorekeeper" is the title he gives the Jedi Consular player, and "Bones in the desert" is his father's bones buried on Tatooine. Another from Mako's page directly references Qyzen as "Ran Qyzen," which refers to how he used to bounty hunt for Braden and Mako.
- The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Old Republic
- Star Wars: The Old Republic Explorer's Guide
- Star Wars: The Old Republic Encyclopedia
- "The Squadrons Scribe" — Star Wars Insider 206