Roons Sewell was a general in the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and a former actor. He was one of the early commanders of Massassi Station. Known for his courage and devotion, Sewell was admired by those under his command, including General Jan Dodonna.
General Sewell grew up poor on the streets of a dirty industrial city on a backwater planet. When he was a young boy, he was badly beaten by a group of older boys and left for dead. Fortunately for Sewell, he was found by a passing transport pilot and taken to a local hospital. Sewell was able to recover and it was not long before he was back on the streets. A secret that Sewell took to his death was that after his recuperation, he led the three boys who had beaten him into a trap, killing them.
Sewell and the body of Masla.
Years later, as a young man, Sewell joined a local theater group. Sewell would later tell General Jan Dodonna that those were the happiest days of his life. It was there that he met the love of his life, an actress named Masla. This would all end when one day, Imperial stormtroopers attempted to stop a performance, accusing the players of being subversives. Onstage, Sewell refused to stop his performance, becoming more aggressive as he continued. When Sewell, enraged, threw a chair at the accompanying Imperial officer, the stormtroopers opened fire. Though Sewell attempted to save her, Masla was one of the first to die in the resulting massacre.
After escaping backstage and into the city, Sewell was able to find the Imperial officers waiting at Masla's mother's residence. He baited them out and they left in their speeder, to which Sewell had attached a heavy-duty chain. The speeder ripped itself apart, mortally wounding two of the officers. Sewell finished the last one himself, with the officer's own blaster.
For a while after this, he lived life on the run, work as a lone agent against the Empire. He knew however that to truly make a difference he would have to connect with the Rebel Alliance.
Sewell with his resistance groupe.
Eventually, the Alliance found him. One of his early missions involved a small team disguised as Imperials tasked with stealing Imperial shuttles. The mission was particularly bloody, resulting in the deaths of almost every Imperial on the station.
His career with the Rebellion was quite remarkable, and he quickly rose to the rank of General, one of the youngest in the Alliance. One of his first tasks upon gaining his rank was that of evacuating the then Captain Jan Dodonna following his defection. Though Dodonna was at first a bit unimpressed with the man under whom he would be serving, in time he grew to respect Sewell's unorthodox tactics and quick wit.
Shortly after, Sewell and Dodonna were tasked with arming the Rebel base on Yavin 4 and beginning to assemble a space fleet. Here a hatred of small rodents Sewell had developed in his early life caused him to act irrationally around such creatures native to Yavin 4. In one incident, named the "Battle of the Bunkroom" by Dodonna, he attempted to exterminate several of the creatures with a blaster. Sewell quickly grew restless in his role as an administrator and undertook an unscheduled mission in spite of Dodonna's urging patience. With only a small squadron of Y-wings, Sewell raided an Imperial supply depot, recovering a Corellian Corvette, twenty hyperdrive units and many needed supplies and small arms.
Sewell acts as a decoy to allow Dodonna's escape.
His last mission was a raid on an Imperial outpost to secure proton torpedoes. The raid went fairly well, but they were forced to retreat into an asteroid belt, where they lay hiding. After a long and heated argument with Dodonna, Sewell transferred into a Y-wing. Sewell planned to act as a decoy for the pursuing Imperials, and brought two remote controlled fighters along which were programmed to follow his every move. Though he succeeding in allowing the getaway of Dodonna and the crew, General Roons Sewell was shot down by a TIE Fighter and died.
Roons Sewell is an anagram of Orson Welles. Many aspects of Sewell's character follow those of the young Welles: his appearance, histrionic speaking style, love of theatre, and meteoric rise through the ranks despite his youth. One might also argue that Sewell's demise mirrored Welles' swift descent from Hollywood royalty. Additionally, Sewell's war-cry of "Masla!", of which no one knew the true meaning, is reminiscent of the dying words of the titular character of "Citizen Kane," a film by Orson Welles.
- The Official Star Wars Fact File128
- Star Wars: Panel to Panel Volume 2: Expanding the Universe
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia
- The Essential Guide to Warfare