Noor R'aya was an elderly Jedi Master a few decades before the Battle of Naboo. A bit of a philosophical Jedi, Noor was deeply connected to the Force, and he eventually left the Jedi Temple on Coruscant to return to his homeworld of Sorl to meditate on the galaxy in seclusion. There, he built a modest house for himself in the Cragh Mountains and then abruptly disappeared. His disappearance remained a mystery until Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn disappeared as well.

It was at this point that Jedi Master Adi Gallia discovered the two were kidnapped by the female scientist Jenna Zan Arbor. Arbor had kidnapped to two Jedi to conduct experiments on them that might give her soome insight into the nature of the Force. The experiments Arbor performed on Master R'aya left him weak and drained of blood. Adi Gallia led a rescue mission to save Master R'aya, but Arbor managed to escape with Noor in tow.

Adi Gallia and Qui-Gon Jinn took their apprentices, Siri Tachi and Obi-Wan Kenobi respectively and soon learned that there was more to the plot than appeared to be. It seemed as if Arbor was exploiting her skills as a scientist to make a fortune on a cure for a disease she created. Giving Noor to the bounty hunter Ona Nobis in hopes of entrapping the pursuing Jedi, Nobis took Noor and journeyed to Bealsco. Although Noor was weak, he was still sound enough to feign unconsciousness and leave clues to where he was being taken. Arbor and Nobis were eventually brought to justice and Noor was saved from the clutches of what can only be described as a mad scientist and a ruthless bounty hunter.