Toki Tollivar

Toki Tollivar was a Bimm citizen of the Galactic Republic. Diminutive in stature, Tollivar believed that other beings underestimated him due to his size. However, Tollivar found that some sects respected power regardless of the size of its wielder. Such was the case with the Sith, whose attention was grabbed by Tollivar's strong Force sensitivity. When they offered Tollivar an opportunity to be trained in the ways of the dark side through Sith teachings, the Bimm readily accepted. He became a Sith Acolyte and was put into service during the Great Sith War, where he managed to slay many Jedi opponents. He was also installed as an employee within the Republic Ministry of Commerce, where he acted as an assassin on behalf of the Sith.

After the war's end and the defeat of Dark Lord of the Sith Exar Kun, Tollivar was left without an Empire to fight for and no Order from which to receive instruction. Knowing that the Jedi Order and the Republic were intent on cleansing all vestiges of Sith influence from the galaxy, Tollivar went into hiding, taking on a string of aliases. He started his own business while maintaining employment with the Commerce Ministry, where he could continue his own personal campaign of revenge against those whom he felt judged him by his minuscule proportions. Tollivar remained underground for the next thirty years, during which time he acquired a servant droid called K-OB7. "Kayo", as referred to by Tollivar, was programmed to protect its Bimm owner no matter the cost. The two became friendly, and Kayo stayed with Tollivar, attending to both his personal and business needs.

Tollivar's droid became suspicious of his owner when it chanced upon one of Tollivar's business associates, a Rodian, strangled to death on the premises of his establishment. Tollivar was indeed responsible, having Force-choked his victim, but he denied any involvement in the murder. Instead of reporting the crime and potentially bringing negative publicity to his business, Tollivar disposed of the body, and the secret remained hidden with him and the droid. A year later, another strangled body was found in Tollivar's vicinity, and the count continued to rise—all while the short-statured Bimm swore ignorance to any knowledge of foul play. To mislead the authorities, however, Tollivar adopted the name "Kelven Garnatrope" and settled on Corellia.

For a time, Tollivar successfully eluded officials while he engaged in a private killing spree. Bounties were posted for the "Corellian Strangler", and holoimages of Kelven Garnatrope changed from day to day. Even Tollivar's closest companion, Kayo, was uncertain of the Bimm's innocence and was conflicted in the possibility that a being so small was capable of strangling larger individuals. When the Corellians finally began to associate Garnatrope with Tollivar, he fled again, purchasing a place on a thirty-passenger cruise through the Core Worlds on board a luxury yacht called the Chancellor Fillorean.

It was not long before Tollivar's murderous pattern emerged on the Fillorean, as well. Crew and passengers alike died one by one, each Force-strangled by Tollivar. The ship ended up stranded and adrift in the Core Worlds nebulae for weeks until it was chanced upon by Jedi Zayne Carrick and the crew of the Hot Prospect. According to Tollivar, some unknown tragedy had befallen all of the ship's passengers save he and his servant droid. One of the Prospects crewmen, the Mandalorian Crusader Demagol, who was masquerading as Rohlan Dyre, discovered part of the truth—that each of the Filloreans passengers had died from asphyxiation. The Bimm's droid was the primary suspect, as the Hot Prospects crew did not believe that such a small being as Tollivar was capable of killing larger individuals. Carrick assured Tollivar of his safety, while the Jedi and his crewmen set about restoring the Filloreans systems and preparing for it to be rescued.

While they continued to unravel the circumstances behind the mysterious Fillorean murders, one of the Prospects crew, a Trandoshan called Slyssk, was Force-asphyxiated by Tollivar and left for dead. Slyssk was found soon thereafter by the Arkanian-offshoot Jarael, and Dyre performed an emergency field tracheotomy to save the Trandoshan. Tollivar then appeared, seemingly unaware of what had transpired, and was ordered to remain in the care of Jarael while Carrick and Dyre pursued the Bimm's servant droid for questioning. Once they were alone, he fell upon Jarael, revealing his Sith status as he levitated and began strangling her. His plan was to commandeer the Hot Prospect and continue his murder spree one Republic citizen at a time. Tollivar would have succeeded in killing Jarael had Carrick not arrived and incapacitated him with blaster fire. Reveling at the opportunity to again face a Jedi in combat, Tollivar ignited his red-bladed lightsaber and engaged Carrick in a duel.

Despite his height disadvantage, Tollivar dominated his opponent from the onset of the brief duel. He ended the contest when he wrenched a lighting fixture free with the Force and struck Carrick with it. The Bimm Sith stood over his defeated opponent preparing to finish him, when Tollivar's droid, Kayo, restrained its owner in an attempt to prevent Tollivar from further endangering himself. He tried to resist the droid's maneuver, even striking him with Force lightning, and vowed to continue his murderous rampage. Rohlan Dyre took the Bimm seriously and shot Tollivar and the droid, destroying them both. The Corellian Strangler was finally dead, leaving a considerable amount of Galactic Credits in bounty to be claimed by Carrick and his company.

Toki Tollivar was a scorned being, angered by those whom he felt stereotyped him by his species' petite size and unassuming appearance, rather than his own knowledge and abilities. He used their underestimations of him to further his own Sith-inspired goals. Tollivar felt that those with power deserved respect without discrimination.

After the Great Sith War, Tollivar displayed a thirst for murder. He found that killing beings brought him temporary satisfaction; upon the death of his first victim, he realized that his need to kill was insatiable, and he embarked on a path that led to a long string of serial murders.

Tollivar was also a dishonest being; he lied about his involvement to his droid upon the discovery of the initial strangled body, and later to the crew of the Hot Prospect with regards to the deaths on board the Chancellor Fillorean. To deceive authorities, Tollivar adopted several aliases, hoping to distance himself from any potential investigation into his murderous activities. When false images of his aliases surfaced in the media, Tollivar did nothing to sway the misdirection of the authorities, instead capitalizing on their ignorance by continuing to kill. Rather than be apprehended, Tollivar fled into space hoping to deaden the trail that inevitably led to him.

Toki Tollivar was a Force-sensitive being of considerable strength. As a Sith adept, he was fond of using Force choke to throttle individuals. He was able to project blasts of Force lightning, though not in a capacity sufficient enough to hinder his droid K-OB7 from attempting to subdue him. He was also able to keep his identity as the Corellian Strangler hidden for quite some time through deceptions and prompt exits from the scenes of his various crimes.

Tollivar was proficient with a lightsaber, wielding a diminished shoto-styled weapon with the crimson blade of a Sith. Tollivar possessed a talent for Dun Möch, displayed when he Force-hurled debris at Jedi Zayne Carrick while they dueled on the Chancellor Fillorean. The Bimm Sith was able to defeat Carrick in their contest, though he was overcome by first his droid Kayo, followed by Rohlan Dyre, who destroyed both Tollivar and Kayo with his blaster pistol.

Toki Tollivar was created by John Jackson Miller for the thirty-eighth installment of the Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic comic series, titled Faithful Execution. Jackson Miller planted several reports of a notorious serial killer, the Corellian Strangler, in previous issues of Knights of the Old Republic: Knights of the Old Republic 14, Knights of the Old Republic 20, Knights of the Old Republic 23. The "Strangler" appeared not in the actual comics, but in the Adjudicator holofeeds that were included in them, where the identity—even the species—of the "Strangler" was deliberately obscured. Some two years after the "Strangler's" initial mention, Jackson Miller explained on his website that he felt Faithful Execution was the appropriate issue to reveal Tollivar as the "Strangler", thus ending the mystery of "Strangler's" identity. Jackson Miller continued to discuss Faithful Execution, and also expressed his satisfaction that artist Dean Zachary was contracted for the issue, as he considered Zachary's style of "dark and moody" artistry to be ideal for the storyline.

When Faithful Execution was released, readers were under the impression that the Mandalorian character was indeed Rohlan Dyre, having previously been given no reason to believe otherwise. It is later revealed in the first issue of the Knights of the Old Republic story arc Demon that Dyre was being impersonated by the Mandalorian scientist Demagol.

• The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia