A Human male named Nam Poorf served the Jedi Order during the final years of the Galactic Republic. He did not hold an official rank, having failed to complete his studies at the Jedi Temple's academy and subsequently being assigned to the Agricultural Corps. After the Galactic Empire rose to power, Poorf joined other surviving Jedi in hiding during the Great Jedi Purge.
Early in his life, Poorf was discovered to be Force-sensitive, leading him to study at the Coruscant Jedi Temple's academy for a number of years, but he ultimately failed to graduate. Because of this, the Council of Reassignment reassigned Poorf to the Jedi Service Corps, specifically the Agricultural Corps. Poorf was stationed on the strip-mined planet Bonadan, where he worked alongside other AgriCorps members, including the Jedi Jambe Lu, to restore the world's devastated environment.
During the Clone Wars, which engulfed the galaxy, Poorf remained outside the Grand Army of the Republic and had very little contact with the clone troopers fighting for the Republic. As the war concluded, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine betrayed the Jedi Order by issuing Contingency Order 66, which ordered all clone units to attack their Jedi Generals. At the time, Poorf and Lu were returning to Coruscant when they learned of the widespread disaster. They fled and eventually joined eight other survivors who had commandeered a SX troop shuttle on Dellalt. As they departed Dellalt, four of the Jedi were killed when the group was attacked by Galactic Empire's ARC-170s and a pursuing light cruiser. The Jedi, barely escaping, were eventually rescued by the Drunk Dancer.
The Jedi were safe for a while aboard smuggler Jula Shryne's ship as they traveled through space, avoiding the Empire. When Captain Shyrne's son, Jedi Master Roan Shryne, was rescued and became part of the crew, the Jedi felt renewed and prepared to confront the Dark Lords of the Sith who controlled the Empire. They landed on Kashyyyk in search of Grand Master Yoda, but the Empire launched an attack on the planet, led by Darth Vader, trapping the Jedi there. When Vader confronted them, Poorf tried to assassinate the Sith Lord, but Vader's lightsaber severed his right leg. His comrades saved him from death, and the surviving Jedi managed to escape the planet, dedicating themselves to subtly undermining the Empire from within until a stronger individual emerged to overthrow the Sith.