Prior to the Clone Wars, Baldarek worked
as a bartender in the galaxy. As the Chiss were an unusual sight in the wider
galaxy, he picked up the nickname "Red-Eye", after his distinctive glowing
eyes. During this period, Baldarek visited the pleasure world of Zeltros, in
the Inner Rim. He partied there for a week, becoming mesmerized by the scent
of Zeltron pheromones. Some of his recollections of his time there made it
into the tourist guide, "Luxury on the Inner Rim".
Much later, Baldarek was employed by
Reelo Baruk, a Rodian crime lord on Nar Shaddaa. He worked in Baruk's Bar, a
cantina frequented by Baruk's thugs. Kyle Katarn visited the bar while trying
to track down
Reelo
Baruk. Balderek however did not serve him, did not even taking a look of the
newcomer customer. But after Kyle put down his lightsaber in front of him, the
bartender became more friendly. Starting the conversation Kyle soon noticed the
funny pronouncement of the chiss
bartender,
who often ends his words with an S. Recommending a ruby bliel to Katarn, the Jedi instead asked for a
Corellian ale. The grimy nature of the bar also prompted Katarn to specify a
clean glass.
When Katarn sought information on Baruk's whereabouts from
Baldarek, the bartender lured him into a trap by keeping his attention away
from a group of thugs (weequay, gran, and rodian thugs) who were about to attack Katarn.
The bartender succeeded
in this role and activated a metal shield to seal the area behind the bar for
protection. The attackers, however, were less successful and all died at the
blade of Katarn's lightsaber. Katarn then found a switch upstairs, which
reopened the bar, so Kyle returned to the traitorous chiss, and threatened the bartender, who
revealed Baruk's location. Katarn eventually tracked down Baruk and killed
him. (My fellow Star Wars fan friend, Darth Stryker created an alternate
ending. He returned to Balderek, Force Pushed him out from his bar, then from
the cantina itself, finally pushing him down from the rooftop of the large,
tall Nar Shaddaa building.)
With the death of his employer,
Baldarek
left Nar Shaddaa and sought employment elsewhere.
Later he'd found employment for a Hutt crime lord on the planet Nar Kreeta.
The Hutt had kidnapped a group of local Mining Guild elders, and was amusing
himself by pitting them against his pet rancor. This drew the attention of the
New Jedi Order, who dispatched Kyle
Katarn and Jaden Korr to deal with the situation. While infiltrating the base,
Korr encountered Baldarek in the Hutt's cantina Baldarek first appeared in the
Mission to Nar Shaddaa in the game Star Wars: Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast;
Baldarek can optionally be killed by the player (Kyle Katarn) during the fray
which has no effect to the remainder of the game.
Later a Chiss bartender, who
looks identical to this bartender, appears in the Mission to Nar Kreeta in the
PC version of Star Wars: Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy as a background figure.
This article assumes the two bartenders are the same individual, and that
Katarn does not kill Baldarek in Jedi Outcast. This is based, in part, on
email confirmation from Cory J. Herndon who wrote Zeltros: Pleasure Planet
which identified Baldarek by name for the first time. The name "Baldarek" is
based on Baldrick, a character from the British TV series Blackadder.
The voice actor for Baldarek
in Jedi Outcast was Nick Jameson. The role was credited as simply "
Bartender".
His in-game model can be used as a character skin for both Jedi Knight II:
Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy multiplayer. There is a hidden NPC in Jedi
Academy entitled 'RebornChiss', which is basically
Baldarek with two red lightsabers and dark force powers. He
will attack the player, but is reasonably easy to defeat; it is unknown if
this model was going to have any further use in the game, as the name applies
he could have started working with the Cult but this
seems to have been cut. It is also notable that there is a 'RebornRodian', 'RebornTrandoshan' and
'RebornWeequay', possibly
implying that mercenaries would also become working
for the cult, possibly under the leadership of Baldarek. Here you can see 2
front pictures and 2 back pictures from the character, both from Jedi Outcast
multiplayer, and from Jedi Academy. From JA, you can also see Maren Galek
alias the Starkiller's skin. The pictures were sent in by Darth Stryker, too.
While
making this bartender figure, I had to use an Admiral Thrawn for the purpose.
In that time, the Expanded Universe Thrawn was a quite expensive figure, with
its diorama card. Despite all of these, I feel it worth making a Balderek from
it. It is a very rare custom figure, I haven't seen any so far. Also, a very
unique character, despite he was only a bartender, he became very ppopular
later on.
Custom bartender Balderek figure front
Custom Redeye Balderek
figure back
Thank you for your attention, come back to CustomStarWars!
written by: Norbert Rostas 2012. 06. 19. the figure was made
years before
