Mosep Binneed

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"I also travel under Jabba's name from time to time, representing his interests. It doesn't hurt to confuse the competition. So yes, for today's purposes − with our master's kind permission − you can say that I am Jabba."

―Mosep Binneed^[4]

Mosep Binneed was a Nimbanel accountant who served Jabba Desilijic Tiure. Like most of his species, Binneed entered a bureaucratic profession and worked for the Hutts, eventually ending up on Tatooine during the early Galactic Civil War. Operating out of Mos Eisley spaceport on Tatooine in the Outer Rim, Binneed managed the finances of crime lord Jabba the Hutt to the best of his efforts, along with a number of other accountants, many of whom were also Nimbanese. He was present in Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina in 0 BBY when Obi-Wan Kenobi attacked Ponda Baba with a lightsaber.

After the death of Binneed's superior, Lhojugg, Binneed took charge of Jabba's financial affairs and was based in the Hutt's town house. He had many informants and contacts in the organizations of Jabba's criminal rivals, and he used their information to disrupt the competitors' flow of funding. However, he knew that Jabba would have no hesitation to end his life if he failed in his tasks, and Binneed was constantly in fear of such a fate. He had many underlings, though some of them wished to work against Jabba, mismanaging his books and seeking to leave his employ.

Biography[]

Servant to Jabba[]

Mosep Binneed^[5] was a Nimbanel alive during the time of the Galactic Civil War. Nimbanese were known to be adept bureaucrats, and held a particular innate interest in numbers and accounting; they were also known to almost exclusively serve members of the Hutt species as aides and retainers for centuries before Mosep Binneed's birth, with great loyalty.^[2] Mosep, as he was commonly referred to,^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9] was no exception, becoming an accountant himself. He eventually entered the service of Jabba Desilijic Tiure, a prominent Hutt crime lord who operated primarily out of Tatooine and Nal Hutta. Binneed was based out of Mos Eisley, Tatooine's main spaceport,^[2] along with a slew of other accountants,^[7]^[8]^[10] including a number of other Nimbanese. Binneed and the other Nimbanese wore similar, flat red and tan uniforms, which made it difficult for members of most other species to distinguish them from each other.^[3]

Binneed and his comrades served under the Nimbanel Lhojugg, who was in charge of the Desilijic Complex, Jabba's town house.^[3] Binneed sometimes frequented Chalmun's Spaceport Cantina in Mos Eisley; he was there in 0 BBY, sitting with former Force Adept Leesub Sirln, when Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi used a lightsaber to dismember Aqualish thug Ponda Baba. Such weapons being so rare during the Great Jedi Purge, the crowd that had assembled in the cantina was shocked by the commotion and collectively turned to see Kenobi depart the cantina. Binneed later witnessed Solo shoot Greedo, walking behind the smuggler as Solo got up to leave. He quickly took a seat with Zutton to stay out of Solo's way.^[11]. He later left the cantina, encountering landspeeder trader Wioslea on his travels. The Vuvrian had just bought an X-34 landspeeder, and Binneed spent some time examining it.^[11]

Leading accountant[]

Around the same time, Lhojugg met his demise after failing to retrieve CZ-3, a CZ-series communications/business droid containing important information of Jabba Desilijic Tiure's; the Hutt fed his head accountant to a number of Kayven whistlers.^[3] Binneed took over as Jabba's main accountant, and had numerous underling accountants^[7]^[8] and assistants.^[10] Binneed took his duty seriously,^[9] unlike many of his peers who worked against Jabba,^[7] and he had many inside contacts in rival organizations to Jabba. These contacts helped the Nimbanel disrupt the cash flow of his employer's competitors,^[9] but despite this good work, Mosep Binneed was constantly fearful for his life; he knew that a single mistake would be enough to prompt the Hutt^[6]—who was known to dismiss^[12] and kill employees for the most trivial of errors^[13]—to ensure the Nimbanel perished^[6] in the same vein as his predecessor.^[3]

Binneed had a number of other accountants under his command. The intelligent cliffborer worm Loje Nella was an assistant to the Nimbanel, though she did so very reluctantly and despised Jabba, to the extent that she purposefully mismanaged the Hutt's finances so as to inconvenience him and obstruct his criminal ventures.^[7] Another one of Binneed's reluctant assistants was the Ishi Tib Shasa Tiel; a former accountant for SoroSuub, she had been blackmailed into working for Jabba, so hated her job and longed for a means of leaving it. Gailid was also Binneed's assistant, though also acted as a tax collector. He was more content with his work than some of his peers, enjoying spending time with Klatooinian mechanic Barada.^[10] Jabba also employed a number of other accountants at the same time, including the competent Harc Seff^[14] and the traitorous Tessek.^[15]

In 4 ABY, Jabba perished during the Battle of the Great Pit of Carkoon, along with many of his underlings. His immense desert citadel was taken over by the B'omarr monks who built it,^[16] and much of the Hutt's wealth which Binneed had managed was stolen by the surviving employees,^[17]^[16]^[15] many of whom went on to work for his rivals.^[18]^[19]

Personality and traits[]

Mosep Binneed was a hard and loyal worker, like most of his fellow Nimbanese.^[2] He had many inside contacts in rival organizations and he used them to further his employer's means.^[9] Unlike many of Jabba's accountants—who either hated their job and wanted to leave,^[8] harbored an intense hatred for the Hutt and attempted to disrupt his criminal operations,^[7] or helped the authorities work against him^[15]—he did his best, but he was realistic and knew that this wouldn't always be enough. He recognized that if he made a mistake he would not get another opportunity to make a second.^[6]

Behind the scenes[]

"That character — a smug, well-spoke, quill-faced yellow who resembled a refugee from Marvel's Planet of the Apes comics more than a slug-like heavy — existed in continuity limbo for years until writers began looking for a way to reintegrate his appearances. The newly named Mosep was established as — appropriately — a stand-in, and accountant who sometimes used Jabba's name in interactions. When I wrote Star Wars: Kenobi, I couldn't resist including Mosep and making the connection official. It might be the real Jabba in A New Hope, but Mosep can finally start getting residuals for his appearances in the other Marvel stories!"

―John Jackson Miller^[20]

Binneed first appeared in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. He can be seen briefly in the Mos Eisley Cantina wearing a red jumpsuit and sporting white facial hair and matching white topknot, sitting at a table with Zutton as Han Solo exits the cantina. He is shown more prominently in the "rough-cut" of the cantina scene, which has been released in various sources. Mosep can then later be seen behind Luke's landspeeder after Luke has sold the vehicle, and again behind Luke and Obi-Wan as they approach Docking Bay 94. He later appeared in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi sporting a black and white ensemble.

TawssKhaaAsMosepBinneed-ANewHopeLimited — Decipher identified Mosep as the red-haired Nimbanel from *A New Hope*.

The character who eventually became Mosep Binneed was created for Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope in 1977. He resembled a walrus, and during shooting wore a red uniform similar to that worn by Imperial officers in other scenes of the film. Known during production as either "Walrus," "Ming," or "Mingo," he appears briefly in the background of the Mos Eisley Cantina and in the streets of Mos Eisley.^[21]

For A New Hope, the character of Jabba was going to feature in a scene where Han Solo confronts him in Docking Bay 94. Jabba was to be a "large, repulsive" creature, and in the original shoot of the scene, Declan Mulholland portrayed Jabba as a large human wearing furs. Because of the constraints of realizing Jabba's desired appearance at the time, the scene was never released in the final version of the film. In the Marvel adaptation of the film, Star Wars (1977) 2, the scene was included, but the likeness of the "Walrus" character was used instead of Jabba.^[22] That comic issue was actually published prior to the film's release date. This portrayal of Jabba was later used in Star Wars (1977) 28 [sic] and Star Wars (1977) 37.

JabbaHut — Mosep Binneed, using the name of Jabba.

There has been much fan speculation about Jabba's Nimbanel appearance in What Ever Happened to Jabba the Hut? [sic] and In Mortal Combat. A popular fan theory was that the Jabba in these issues was in fact Mosep masquerading as his master; considering the active physical role "Jabba" plays in issue 28, the story would, according to the theorists, make more sense with Mosep (or even more likely Lhojugg) rather than the relatively immobile Jabba. Some fans also suggested that Mosep/Lhojugg used the alias of "Jabba the Hut"—Hutt was originally spelled with a single T until 1980—and that other mentions of Jabba using the "Hut" spelling are actually references to Mosep/Lhojugg. Star Wars author Abel G. Peña has acknowledged the theory on the StarWars.com message boards, stating that it make sense and would surely be made an official retcon in time.^[23] The Star Wars Databank stated that the events in What Ever Happened to Jabba the Hut? [sic] may have happened in some shape or form, but not how they are presented in the comic.^[22] At the time of this speculation, Mosep was identified by his Decipher image. That particular image is however now attributed to Tawss Khaa. The novel Kenobi by John Jackson Miller establishes that Mosep would sometimes travel under Jabba's name, representing his interests, indicating that the Jabba from the Marvel comics may indeed have been Mosep. This was finally confirmed by Miller in the article "Red Five" in Star Wars Insider 149, making the connection between the Marvel comics and Mosep official.

Mosep Rollcall — Image of Tawss Khaa previously used to represent Mosep.

The identification of Binneed and another Nimbanel, Tawss Khaa, has fluctuated over the years, with both of the A New Hope Nimbanese having been identified as Binneed in official sources. For instance, in their earliest identifications, the Decipher's Star Wars Customizable Card Game in 1996, Khaa is the white-haired Nimbanel,^[24] while Mosep is the red-haired one.^[6] The surname "Binneed" was applied to the character in 2003 with Ultimate Alien Anthology, a book from Wizards of the Coast.^[5] The association of the name Mosep with the red-haired Nimbanel was repeated in Pablo Hidalgo's article "Cantina Roll-Call: Shedding Light on Some Alien Aliases," published on the StarWars.com website in 2008.^[21] However, in "Rogues Gallery," an article by Leland Chee published in Star Wars Insider 130 in 2011, Mosep Binneed is now identified as the white-haired Nimbanel, while Tawss Khaa is the red-haired one.^[25]

In 1983, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi established that Hutts were large, slug-like creatures, making the "Walrus" character depiction incorrect. Later, in 1995, his alien design was identified in Galaxy Guide 12: Aliens — Enemies and Allies as a Nimbanel. A character by the name of "Mosep" was also introduced; since the Nimbanel design had previously been used for Hutts, it was decided to make Mosep Jabba's henchman, and the Nimbanese a species of Hutt servants. In 1998, Decipher, Inc. released a Star Wars Customizable Card Game card of Mosep, establishing that the Nimbanel in A New Hope was the same one as described in Galaxy Guide 12. Ultimate Alien Anthology later provided him with a surname, "Binneed."

In the A Hunter's Fate: Greedo's Tale webstrip adaptation, set a short time before A New Hope, a Nimbanel wearing similar attire to Mosep can be seen in Jabba's Court. It is possible that this character is Mosep, though may also be Lhojugg, his predecessor as Jabba's main accountant, as Lhojugg's creator, Pablo Hidalgo, illustrated the webstrip.