Bothan is a species first mentioned though not seen in the 1983 film Return of the Jedi, the third film of the Star Wars saga. Many members of this race, often sought out as spies and intelligence agents, died to obtain information about the second Death Star battle station under construction at Endor. The incident in which they obtained this information in documented in the Steven Perry novel Shadows of the Empire.
Bothans make their first appearance as 1.5-meter-tall feline humanoids in the Timothy Zahn novel Heir to the Empire. As represented by Borsk Fey'lya (who would later become the New Republic's Chief of State), Bothans are eager to advance their personal power any way that they can. From their forested homeworld of Bothawui, Bothans operate an advanced spynet that rivals both Rebel and Imperial intelligence gathering, and in some ways surpasses them.
