Zelor

A Human male native of the planet Velmor, Zelor served King Lorac and Queen Denira as Lord Regent during the time of the rise of the Galactic Empire. In 17 BBY, the Empire fomented an uprising against Lorac and Denira after learning that the king had rebel sympathies. With a coup incoming, Zelor cut his own deal with the Imperial Diplomatic Corps, assuring the Imperials that the monarchs' younger son, Anod, would serve the Empire as king. The mob stormed the royal palace and kill both the king and queen, leaving Anod unharmed, as planned—however, crown prince Denid managed to survive and escape to parts unknown. According to Velmorian tradition, 20 years had to pass before Denid could be ruled dead and the throne could pass to Anod—in the meantime, Zelor ruled Velmor in his stead as regent.

The 20-year deadline finally came up in 3 ABY, and the braintrust in charge of Velmor—which consisted of Zelor and Imperial diplomat Zeta Traal—quickly moved to crown Anod as the new king. However, Denid dramatically made his return in the middle of the coronation ceremony, as the crown was about to be placed on his younger brother's head. Zelor instantly recognized Denid and publicly welcomed him home to Velmor, but it was an unwelcome development for a number of reasons. The regent had no intention of seeing the Rebel sympathizer on the throne, and previously had dispatched his own agents to find Denid, believing to have traced his signal to the planet Tantajoc V. From the minute Denid returned, Zelor began working behind the scenes to once again render him a non-factor. When Royal Physician Chozz Wardle submitted a report affirming Denid's physical and mental fitness to assume the throne, Zelor had Wardle and his entire staff executed.

And even as Zelor publicly called for a celebration at the crown prince's return, he was plotting his assassination. Zelor and Traal approached one of Denid's companions—a bounty hunter going by the name "Korl Marcus"—and offered to pay him handsomely to kill Denid and the crown prince's betrothed, a woman named Loren. All the while, Zelor planned to eliminate Anod as well, and claim the throne as his own. Using Marcus proved to be a crucial miscalculation on his part, however: "Marcus" was actually Rebel Commander Luke Skywalker, while "Loren" was secretly Rebel leader Leia Organa. Skywalker warned Denid and Organa before the trap was sprung during the traditional Mrid Hunt the next day, but Zelor countered by sending Anod himself in to do the job—the ensuing firefight resulted in Anod's death, and Zelor's was next to meet his end, finding himself on the wrong end of Skywalker's lightsaber.

Power-hungry to his core, Zelor's primary goal was the annihilation of the bloodline of the House of Lorac, which would clear the way for his own house to rule Velmor. The Lord Regent became accustomed to rule during his 20-year interregnum on the Velmorian throne, and when it came time for him to relinquish authority to the new monarch, he found that he had little interest in giving it up. Zelor was a schemer, adept at playing the friend to his opponent's face while plotting behind their back—a disingenuousness that was noticed at times by those he encountered.

However, despite his ambitious goals, Zelor was regarded as little more than a "provincial fool" by his Imperial contacts. Zelor directed that same disdain in turn upon Anod, who he regarded as an idiot and little more than a puppet of his betters. Zelor was an extremely skilled duelist with the traditional Velmorian energy sword, but ultimately found his talents inferior to those of Skywalker's.

Zelor first appeared in Star Wars (1977) 49, written by Mike W. Barr and released in 1981. In the comic, Zelor was illustrated by Walter Simonson.