Fanry

Born in 54 BBY on the Inner Rim planet Pijal, Fanry was a human female. As a Pijali princess and potential heir to the throne, she was raised as part of the Pijali monarchy, spending her early years primarily within the confines of the Pijali palace near Pijal's capital city. From an early age, Fanry grew accustomed to being served by attendants and enslaved workers, eventually moving into the palace's royal chamber quarters. In 48 BBY, at the age of six, she inherited the right to Pijal's throne following the death of the world's prior monarch. Pijal's courtiers debated over who should serve as Fanry's regent until she was old enough to rule, but failing to reach an agreement, they sought a neutral arbiter from the Galactic Republic. The Jedi High Council subsequently sent Jedi Knight Rael Averross of the Jedi Order to Pijal to act as the world's lord regent on behalf of the Republic until the princess reached the age to be officially invested as monarch. Shortly after his arrival, Averross took Fanry under his wing, mentoring her in leadership and diplomacy to prepare her for her future role as Pijal's queen.

In 42 BBY, Averross represented the Pijali princess at a meeting of Senate diplomats in the Galactic Senate Building on the Core Worlds planet Coruscant, briefly discussing the session with his former Jedi Master, Dooku. Over time, Fanry heard numerous stories about the death of her regent's former Padawan, Nim Pianna, and grew to resent being seen as a replacement protégé for the Jedi student in Averross's eyes. Eventually, Fanry concluded that Averross's actions as lord regent were motivated by a desire to compensate for his failures with Pianna, rather than genuine concern for her role as Pijal's future queen. As the years passed and Averross continued to micromanage her daily life, the princess began to intentionally portray herself as a naive child to him and her court, while privately developing strong convictions about her life goals and ideals. Fanry developed a strong dislike for Averross's close association with and support of the Czerka Corporation, believing they had exploited Pijal and its citizens for centuries. In preparation for her future role as queen, she researched many of her homeworld's former monarchs, discovering that all in recent history had been relatively powerless puppet rulers due to Czerka's heavy influence on Pijal.

At some point, against Fanry's wishes, Averross collaborated with the local Czerka Sector Supervisor Meritt Col to draft a Governance Treaty that would strip power from the Pijali monarchy governing the Pijal system. The treaty proposed transferring authority to a democratic Assembly, a system of government that Averross believed could use its newfound jurisdiction to open the Pijal Hyperspace Corridor hyperspace route in coordination with the Republic. Although Averross and Col insisted that the princess sign the treaty on her fourteenth birthday at her coronation, she dissented. Fanry's unease with the treaty stemmed in part from its ritual language, as she strongly felt it would grant Czerka irrevocable power on Pijal by making it impossible for the Assembly to cancel contract agreements once made, enabling the company to exploit Pijali citizens unchecked while the world's new government gradually lost authority. When voicing her disagreement, her concerns were dismissed as the baseless musings of a child too young to comprehend serious matters by most courtiers, except for the Pijali minister Orth, who also despised Czerka.

As her coronation approached, Fanry became increasingly disillusioned with Czerka's influence after learning that her Skykeeper, a revered religious leader on Pijal, was accepting bribes from the company in violation of his duty to protect Pijali soulcraft vessel docks from commercial use. As Averross's fixation with the treaty's success intensified, Fanry enlisted the help of her Czerka-enslaved assistant and trusted confidante, Cady, to plot a revolution against the regent's aspiration to install her as a relatively powerless constitutional monarch. To gather information about Averross's activities, Fanry instructed Cady to spend most of her time monitoring the regent. As her frustration grew, Fanry ordered the Pijali armed forces loyal to her, consisting of royal guards and blackguards led by their captain, Deren, to instigate increasingly violent attacks against Czerka facilities. With Averross focused on discovering the origin of the incidents, Fanry helped frame the Opposition, a political performance troupe known for protesting the treaty, for the dissidence caused by her guards.

In 40 BBY, with her crowning only days away, Fanry instructed her guards to escalate their attacks to instill fear in Averross, hoping he would postpone or cancel the treaty signing. The blackguards, acting under her orders, used corrosive nanotech to disintegrate the roof of a newly constructed Hall of Assembly building. In other instances, the soldiers detonated an explosive droid that blew up a Czerka warehouse facility, dispersed a chemical on Pijal's moon, and vandalized a temple. As her regent's resolve to coerce Fanry into signing the treaty hardened, she began planning to seize power by force at her upcoming coronation. Due to the chaos resulting from the strikes, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi were sent to Pijal to protect Fanry until her coronation and ratify the signing of the Governance Treaty on the Republic's behalf.

Operating under the watchful eyes of the Jedi, Fanry became more determined to lead Pijal into a future free of Czerka influence as a warrior queen. While outwardly acting childish and friendly to Jinn, Kenobi, and the rest of her court, the princess continued working with Deren and Cady to undermine Averross. As the next part of her plan, Fanry devised a fake assassination attempt on herself to frame the Opposition for its first violent initiative against the Pijali monarchy, which Cady carried out. Assisted by Fanry, Cady acquired a slicer dart, a type of nanotechnology device capable of temporary mind control, and planted it in the windowsill of her mistress's Pijali palace quarters. The incident horrified Averross, whose former Padawan had died during an incident involving a slicer dart. His rage following the fabricated attack led him to believe it was a legitimate attempt on Fanry's life, fueling his fear for the princess and resolve to protect her until the treaty could be signed.

Despite the apparent security risks, Fanry attended several events meant to introduce her to a wider audience of Pijali citizens, including a concert from the balcony of her quarters and a private party with Col. To follow her planet's traditions, she prepared to participate in a ceremonial Grand Hunt event, a ritual rite of passage symbolizing a future monarch's ability to provide for their people. Prior to the hunt, Cady, under Fanry's orders, sabotaged the event's prey, a modified crab droid, by giving it orders to kill the princess. On the evening of the event, the princess rode a Pijal varactyl in the Grand Hunt and skillfully pursued the prey droid. However, as a result of Cady's prior sabotage, the crab droid attacked Fanry, prompting Jinn, Averross, and Kenobi to destroy it with their lightsabers and begin investigating the incident. Although the Jedi's investigation concluded that the droid's saboteur must have been one of the palace staff or Pijali nobles attending the event, Fanry covered for Cady, insisting on her court's loyalty.

Following a violent vision of Fanry's upcoming coronation, Jinn refused to ratify the Governance Treaty at the crowning, fearing something adverse would occur. Although Fanry was elated at the news, Averross's support of the initiative remained unchanged, and Jinn's apprentice was instructed by the Jedi Council to affirm the validity of the treaty after the princess's signing in his Master's place. As her regent's relationship with the older Jedi deteriorated, Fanry sent royal troops led by Deren to Pijal's moon to rescue Jinn and Kenobi when they were attacked by blackguards, against Averross's wishes. Initially disappointed by her decision to overstep him, Averross viewed Fanry's rescue of Jinn as mature, crediting himself for mentoring her well. Two days prior to her crowning, in preparation for her ascent to the throne, the princess selected a circlet crown beaded with gemstones from Pijal's royal treasury to wear during the event with the help of her court jeweler and Orth.

Shortly before the coronation, Fanry assisted in replacing the kyber crystal in Kenobi's lightsaber with a kohlen crystal in an attempt to render it useless. On the day of the grand event, Cady helped prepare her princess, assuring her that positive change was imminent. As regal music played, the princess entered the palace's Celestial Chalice for her crowning, stopping at a grand dais in the center of the room. In keeping with tradition, Fanry swore her loyalty to Pijal, received a ceremonial sword from the Skykeeper, and was crowned queen. She then proceeded to stab the religious leader with the sword and instructed Deren to activate kohlen crystal–powered shields that protected herself, her guard captain, and Cady. Having successfully seized power as an absolute monarch, she publicly denounced democracy and justified her violent actions as defending Pijal's citizens from Czerka's tyranny. Fanry berated her Skykeeper for accepting bribes from Czerka and ordered Deren to kill several individuals who had supported the Governance Treaty, only sparing those who had spoken out against it.

Before Deren could carry out his orders, Kenobi used the orange blade projected from his sabotaged lightsaber to breach Deren's shield, cutting him open. Witnessing the injury to her guard, Fanry and Cady escaped through the Chalice's roof using an ascending cable attached to a harness to climb into a royal troop dropship, leaving Deren, the injured Skykeeper, and Pijal's court jeweler behind. After boarding the Righteous, the recently renamed flagship of Pijal's royal fleet, Fanry allowed Cady to have a droid remove her slave-tracking chip, freeing her from Czerka's control. The newly crowned queen became furious upon learning that Col, whom she wished to kill at her coronation, had escaped the ceremony and remained in command of the Leverage, a Czerka cruiser.

Fueled by adrenaline and confidence from her coronation, Fanry accepted a hologram call from Jinn and Averross from the bridge of the Righteous, dismissing attempts to negotiate a peaceful solution. Upon hearing Averross's voice, Fanry berated him for his collaboration with Czerka and for treating her as a replacement for Pianna to assuage his personal grief. Proceeding with her plans, Fanry coldly ordered her flagship to prepare to attack the Leverage. As the Righteous's weapons powered up, Jinn informed her in a second hologram call that the enslaved workers stationed aboard the Leverage were revolting against their owners.

Although Cady initially believed that Fanry would help the trapped workers, Fanry insisted on commencing her assault on the Leverage despite the innocent lives still on board. Feeling betrayed, Cady confronted Fanry about the extensive work and sabotage she had carried out under the monarch's orders, believing that she would end slavery on Pijal after becoming queen. When Cady held Fanry at blaster-point, refusing to take orders from the Pijali queen, the ruler was eventually forced to surrender. Within two days of the chaotic coronation, Fanry chose to abdicate her right to Pijal's throne after a Republic judicial ruling deemed her ascent to the throne through violent means illegal.

A distant cousin of Fanry's, Lamia, briefly reigned as Pijal's queen for a few hours to sign treaties forming the world's monarchy into a democratic Assembly, outlawing slavery in the Pijal system, and establishing the Pijal Hyperspace Corridor as a hyperspace route. The new leader of the Assembly, Governor Orth, immediately canceled all contracts Pijal had maintained with Czerka, lamenting that Fanry had never sought her help in standing up to the company without resorting to violence. As punishment for her failed revolution, Fanry was placed under house arrest in the Pijali palace for a sentence of four years, a term meant to end when she turned eighteen. In the aftermath of the events, Averross came to recognize that Fanry had felt like Pianna's replacement to him and regretted his errors in mentoring the princess.

Upon Jinn and Kenobi's subsequent arrival back on Coruscant, the Jedi Master communicated the events that transpired on Pijal, which included Fanry's attempted coup, to the Jedi Council. Circa 23 BBY, Dooku dispatched Asajj Ventress, his newly appointed Sith assassin, to investigate the whereabouts of his sibling, Jenza. After Ventress located Jenza, the latter informed her about Dooku's prior discussion with Averross regarding Fanry on Coruscant. In the second chapter of Skywalker: A Family at War, Princess Fanry received an indirect mention; this biography of the Skywalker family was composed by the journalist Kitrin Braves and released sometime after 35 ABY, following the publication of The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire by the historian Beaumont Kin. The book detailed Jinn and Kenobi's involvement in Fanry's forceful ascension to the throne, including the premonitions experienced by the Jedi before the event.

As a princess of Pijal, Fanry demonstrated a deep passion for her planet's customs and the weighty responsibility of guiding her world toward a prosperous future. As time progressed, Fanry developed a strong belief that the Czerka Corporation was causing harm to the citizens of Pijal and felt compelled to defend her people as soon as she gained the power to do so. The princess harbored intense resentment towards the company and Averross's refusal to heed her concerns, using it as motivation to become a formidable warrior queen. Aware that many perceived her as an innocent and immature individual, Fanry deliberately played into these perceptions, presenting herself as a relatively naive and charming conversationalist within the Pijali court.

Fanry was prepared to use deception and, ultimately, murder to achieve her objectives, enlisting the assistance of her trusted aide, Cady, in various aspects of her revolution. She exploited the knowledge Averross imparted to her about diplomacy to deceive him and others, successfully misleading the majority of the Pijali court regarding the Opposition's alleged involvement in violent attacks, while simultaneously orchestrating each incident for her blackguards to execute. The princess's animosity towards Averross fueled her desire for his demise, as she believed he had never genuinely cared for her and was merely using her as a means to alleviate his lingering guilt over the death of his previous student. During her coronation, Fanry's forceful seizure of power and subsequent address garnered the admiration of her people. She firmly believed that the Pijal system's form of government was superior to that of the Galactic Republic and openly denounced its democratic principles.

When given the choice, Fanry prioritized the suffering of Czerka's officials over the welfare of enslaved individuals working for the company. Cady, who had remained loyal to her ruler under the impression that she would abolish slavery on Pijal upon becoming queen, betrayed her former owner after being freed from her tracking chip. Following her abdication, the former queen was recognized for her courage in challenging Czerka, and Orth believed she possessed the potential for greatness with further maturity. Fanry possessed fair skin and blue eyes, and her fiery red hair was reminiscent of a fire's blaze. At the time of her coronation, she had a youthful appearance and was of short stature.

During her time as crown princess on Pijal, Fanry executed her courtly duties with grace and elegance. As she began to orchestrate her revolution, she evolved into an exceptionally skilled liar, engaging in various forms of deception over an extended period. Fanry was a diligent learner, adeptly feigning innocence and gullibility to all those she encountered. Her technical expertise aided her in conceiving several violent assaults against Czerka, as well as an assassination attempt on herself, all of which she attributed to the Opposition. Although lacking in direct combat skills, Fanry managed to stab the Skykeeper with a sword during her coronation and ascend from the Celestial Chalice using a cable and harness to escape the venue. The princess's unwavering control over her emotions resulted in a disregard for the consequences of her actions, having honed her ability to issue commands efficiently from a young age.

As a Pijali royal who preferred to dress in her planet's traditional style, Fanry's wardrobe was replete with tailored clothing designed to subtly accentuate her inner beauty with a predominantly simple external appearance. Her clothing collection featured numerous pieces of silk finery, including white court gowns and slippers for everyday wear. In accordance with Pijali custom, Fanry concealed her hair from public view until her coronation, using scarves during the day and a nightcap while sleeping. The princess possessed a variety of turbans and headscarves in shades such as white, ivory, and pale green, often coordinating her choice with the color of her gown.

While devising her revolutionary schemes, Fanry had access to corrosive nanotechnology, which her blackguards employed to disintegrate the roof of a newly constructed Hall of Assembly building. The princess also acquired a slicer dart and a droid rigged to explode, instructing her subordinates to use them in fabricated attacks on Czerka and the monarchy while she assisted in framing the Opposition for the incidents. As princess, she commanded the loyalty of Pijal's royal guards and blackguards, granting her complete control over Pijal's armed fleet and its flagship, the Heavenly Sphere, which she later renamed the Righteous. Fanry used these ships to rescue Jinn on Pijal's moon and to communicate with him via hologram calls in the days that followed.

When greeting Jedi arriving to assist Pijal, Fanry donned a long white dress with slits in the sleeves and skirts, revealing glimpses of her gold-colored shimmersilk undergown. As the heir apparent to her planet's throne, she participated in a Grand Hunt, wearing a plain, wide-sleeved sandy frock and green underdress for varactyl riding. For the event, she was provided with an energy bow to hunt prey and a basket of luxuries. For her coronation, Fanry opted for a long-sleeved white dress paired with a midnight blue undergown and a thick cuff bracelet. During the ceremony, she received the Pijali ceremonial sword and crowned herself with a ceremonially consecrated circlet adorned with small gemstones. When she needed to escape from the Celestial Chalice, Fanry took a personal shield–generating device from Deren and used an ascending cable attached to a harness to ascend into a dropship. As her gown became stained during the coronation, she opted to wear a silvery armorweave chestplate over it.

Fanry's inaugural appearance was in Master & Apprentice, the 2019 novel penned by Claudia Gray. Gray herself imagined Fanry being portrayed by actor Sadie Sink. The author commented that she did not pass judgement on a world's choice to have relatively inexperienced leaders if it worked for them, suggesting that Fanry and other young leaders might offer a fresh perspective on situations.

In an interview, Gray shared that she viewed the relationship between Fanry and Rael Averross as analogous to the tension between an overprotective father and his daughter. The author believed that Averross's motivation for mentoring Fanry stemmed from his failure to save his former Padawan and that the regent's extensive training of Fanry in royal protocol and politics helped the young ruler to fool almost everyone around her into believing she was a child with no aspirations to seize power at her coronation.