Gilad Pellaeon

Gilad Pellaeon, a human male originating from the Corellian planet in the Core Worlds, rose to the rank of captain within the Imperial Navy during the Galactic Empire's reign. He functioned as an Imperial officer within Admiral Thrawn's 96th Task Force. Pellaeon, following Thrawn's orders, attended specific gatherings of Imperial personnel, seeking out individuals who shared a similar vision. Pellaeon participated in one such assembly sometime between 9 BBY and 2 BBY. It occurred aboard an Imperial-class Star Destroyer above the city planet of Coruscant. He observed a presentation by Morgan Elsbeth, the magistrate of Corvus, who showcased her designs for the TIE Defender, an advanced starfighter. Her aim was to secure a production deal with the Empire.

Moff Isdain abruptly ended Elsbeth's negotiation, expressing his intention to forcibly seize the resources of Corvus and its surrounding star systems for the Empire. Pellaeon, impressed by Elsbeth's work, approached the disheartened magistrate after Isdain and the other officers left the boardroom. He praised her work and inquired about the alterations to the engine manifold in her fighter design. Pellaeon reassured Elsbeth of his genuine interest, unlike Isdain's exploitative scheme, and questioned her decision to offer her services to the Empire. Elsbeth offered a rehearsed response about serving "the glory of the Empire." Pellaeon acknowledged this, pondered for a moment, thanked her for her time, and then departed.

Pellaeon later told Thrawn about his encounter with Elsbeth. Thrawn, accompanied by the captain, soon traveled to Calodan, the capital city of Corvus, to meet the magistrate in person. They first tested Elsbeth's combat skills by sending the Noghri assassin Rukh to attack her on the city's rampart. Pellaeon approached the two as Elsbeth defeated the assassin, commended the magistrate's victory, and dismissed Rukh. He explained that the skirmish was a deliberate test and expressed his eagerness to collaborate with her. Pellaeon then left the scene for Thrawn, who welcomed Elsbeth into his service.

Pellaeon was later assigned to Grand Admiral Balanhai Savit's Third Fleet as the commanding officer of the Imperial Star Destroyer _Harbinger_. Savit was not satisfied with Pellaeon's personal loyalty to him. During the fleet's anti-piracy campaign in the Esaga sector in 1 BBY, Savit ordered Pellaeon and his first officer to a meeting to discuss a pirate-hunting mission. Unbeknownst to Pellaeon, the Grand Admiral had hired the pirates to steal components from Project Stardust, which involved the construction of the Empire's Death Star superweapon.

Thrawn, who had been promoted to Grand Admiral of the Seventh Fleet, aimed to remove Savit from command by exposing his treachery. He asked Savit to hand over the captive Assistant Director Brierly Ronan and sent coordinates for a rendezvous. Savit traveled to the prearranged star system with four Star Destroyers, including Pellaeon's Harbinger, and met with Thrawn's flagship, the Star Destroyer Chimaera, commanded by Commodore Karyn Faro. Savit suspected an ambush and sent the Harbinger to sweep a nearby space station, which was actually used by Savit's pirates. This was a precaution to keep Pellaeon away from a possible conflict. Savit also allowed Pellaeon to send over boarding parties, which the captain used to dispatch an advance survey team to the station. Savit would later ignore Pellaeon's report on the matter. Meanwhile, Faro transmitted evidence of Savit's complicity with the pirates to the Third Fleet personnel.

Savit's three remaining Star Destroyers engaged in a skirmish against the Chimaera. During the encounter, Pellaeon reviewed the evidence against Savit and concluded that an official inquiry against the Grand Admiral was justified. Pellaeon called for Savit to surrender his command and called on fellow Captains Lochry and Rasdel to join him. He further placed the Harbinger under Faro's command. Following Savit's arrest, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin reassigned Pellaeon and the Harbinger to the Seventh Fleet. He believed the captain might prove useful to Thrawn's ongoing struggle against the Lothalite insurgents. Faro contacted the reassigned captain on the Grand Admiral's order and arranged a rendezvous of the Harbinger with Thrawn's fleet at Lothal.

Pellaeon participated in the Empire's orbital blockade around Lothal as part of Thrawn's fleet later in 1 BBY. However, the blockade failed to stop a band of rebels, led by Jedi Padawan Ezra Bridger of the Spectres, from launching an attack that liberated the planet from its Imperial occupation.

Thrawn was dealing with the rebels on the planet's surface when he learned that the entire blockade was destroyed by several objects not identifiable to the Imperials. The Grand Admiral contacted Pellaeon to inquire about the situation, and the captain reported that their attackers had come out of hyperspace before their communication was quickly severed. Thrawn discovered that flocks of purrgil—massive, whalelike creatures capable of traveling through hyperspace—had destroyed the Imperial vessels as part of Bridger's attack. Pellaeon survived the battle, but Thrawn and Bridger went missing in action as they were aboard the Chimaera when the purrgil carried the ship into hyperspace, stranding Thrawn in a far galaxy. The Empire never returned to Lothal after losing the liberated planet to the rebels. Following Thrawn's disappearance, Pellaeon continued to fight against the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War. His promotion, along with other of the Grand Admiral's subordinates, was stalled because some Imperials wanted Thrawn's legacy to be a failure.

The Empire lost the war against the Rebel Alliance, which became the New Republic. The Empire fragmented into various remnant factions after the apparent death of Emperor Sheev Palpatine at the Battle of Endor in 4 ABY. Pellaeon went into hiding and formed the secret Shadow Council with other Imperial loyalists. The council consisted of remnant Imperial warlords wanted by the Republic, and its goal was to restore the Empire. The captain represented his own delegation in the Council. Each member operated in a particular sector of the galaxy. Pellaeon and fellow council member Commandant Brendol Hux possessed a considerable amount of resources and equipment.

Pellaeon attended a Shadow Council meeting via hologram around 9 ABY. He warned an Imperial warlord about the latter's hit-and-run operations to plunder the hyperspace lanes. He believed they were gaining too much New Republic attention. Pellaeon advised caution about revealing their true strength until the imminent return of Grand Admiral Thrawn, which, in his opinion, would bring forth the reemergence of the Imperial Military. This would also allow sufficient time for the completion of Project Necromancer, supervised by Hux.

Moff Gideon, another member of the Shadow Council, was skeptical about Pellaeon's claims and criticized the captain for speaking with confidence despite the lack of evidence of Thrawn's return. Pellaeon tried to assure him that it was kept secret, but Gideon suggested that a new leader should be sought. Some of the warlords supported this proposition, much to Pellaeon's displeasure. During the remainder of the meeting, Hux and Pellaeon reviewed the Moff's request for reinforcements for his forces, including three Praetorian Guards, TIE interceptors, and TIE bombers.

Pellaeon mocked Gideon's request for guards at first, but he was concerned to hear that the Moff was up against Mandalorians. They were an ancient society of legendary warriors preparing to reclaim their homeworld of Mandalore. Pellaeon feared that a Mandalorian resurgence would hinder the Council's designs. He approved Gideon's request alongside Hux. With his promise of victory against the Mandalorians, the Moff uttered the phrase "Long live the Empire," which the other council members echoed in unison. Gideon ultimately failed to stop the Mandalorians from retaking their homeworld, which cost him his life, despite the Shadow Council's support. Elsbeth's efforts led to Thrawn's return from his exile in the far galaxy as Pellaeon hoped.

The historian Beaumont Kin mentioned Pellaeon in the fifteenth chapter of his book, The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire, in 35 ABY. The section discussed the Imperial fleet and its combat engagements. Kin discussed Pellaeon's lack of immediate promotion following the Battle of Lothal compared to others under Thrawn's command. The historian presumed that some individuals wished for Thrawn's legacy to be one of failure, noting that Pellaeon was passed over for advancement due to the decisions of some Imperials.

Gilad Pellaeon had blue eyes, light skin, and white hair with a mustache. By 2 BBY, the captain had an elderly appearance. Pellaeon was intrigued by Elsbeth after her TIE Defender presentation while serving in Thrawn's 96th Task Force. He recognized her as a potential asset to the Empire. He was impressed when the magistrate demonstrated her combat proficiency against Rukh and indicated his keen interest in working with her while tipping his kepi.

Pellaeon's loyalty as an Imperial officer was to the Empire itself, not to any individual commander. After receiving evidence that his commanding officer, Grand Admiral Savit, had committed treason, Pellaeon turned against Savit and demanded his surrender. Captain Pellaeon was astonished during the Liberation of Lothal when he witnessed the purrgil swarm coming out of hyperspace and attacking the blockade of Imperial starships over the planet.

Pellaeon's loyalty to the regime endured after the Empire's fall, and he continued to work for the Imperial remnants. He believed the remaining Imperial forces must not waste their strength and should operate discreetly without revealing the coordination between the remnant factions, even though he found the New Republic to be vulnerable. The captain coveted Thrawn's leadership for the remains of the Empire and saw the Grand Admiral's return as their only hope for success.

Gilad Pellaeon was a capable military officer whose skills were noticed by high-ranking Imperials such as Grand Admiral Savit and Grand Moff Tarkin. He possessed knowledge about the inner workings of a starfighter and was able to appreciate the sophistication of Elsbeth's schematics for the TIE Defender. The captain was also fluent in the Galactic Basic Standard language.

Pellaeon wore a gray Imperial officer's uniform along with an Imperial kepi, a pair of black gloves, and a black belt. Both his kepi and belt buckle featured an officer's disk on the front. The captain's tunic was adorned by code cylinders in small pockets near the shoulders and a rank insignia plaque on the top left torso, which consisted of three squares followed by a blue square when the single line plaques were the norm in the Empire. His rank plaque had three red squares over three blue squares by the time of the New Republic Era, and his tunic featured the emblem of the Seventh Fleet on the left shoulder.

Gilad Pellaeon made his return to Star Wars canon in the animated series Star Wars Rebels finale, titled "Family Reunion – and Farewell." This episode, penned by executive producer Dave Filoni and his team, initially aired on March 5, 2018. Jim Cummings provided the voice for the character, also voicing Hondo Ohnaka in the same series. Timothy Zahn, who originally created the character in Star Wars Legends, was not notified about Pellaeon's inclusion in Star Wars Rebels beforehand. However, he later incorporated the character into his 2019 novel, Thrawn: Treason, reintroducing the first name "Gilad" into the official canon.

Pellaeon's live-action debut occurred in "Chapter 23: The Spies," the seventh episode of The Mandalorian's third season on Disney+, although only in hologram form. This episode, written by Filoni and Jon Favreau, premiered on April 12, 2023. Xander Berkeley portrayed Pellaeon in this episode, and Zahn praised his performance. To accurately depict Pellaeon based on his appearance in Star Wars Legends, Berkeley shaved his beard while maintaining his mustache. Berkeley also lent his voice to Pellaeon in "The Path of Anger," the second episode of the animated anthology Star Wars: Tales of the Empire, which was released on May 4, 2024.

Filoni has stated that one of his favorite aspects of his job is incorporating Legends characters, such as Pellaeon, into canon. He explained that Pellaeon's inclusion in Star Wars Rebels serves as both an Easter egg for long-time fans of the Expanded Universe and provides other writers the chance to create new canon stories for the character, an opportunity that wouldn't necessarily exist with a brand new character. Before The Mandalorian confirmed Pellaeon's survival, Filoni had suggested that Pellaeon had somehow escaped and survived the Star Wars Rebels finale. He believed the character shouldn't be "whimsically" killed off by a purrgil and hoped other authors would continue his story. He also hinted at a potential reunion between Pellaeon and Thrawn in future New Republic-era narratives set after the first season of Ahsoka, the live-action series Filoni created in 2023.

In a trivia quiz featured in Star Wars Insider 222, published by Titan Magazines on October 31, 2023, as part of the magazine's regular "Jedi Master's Quiz" section, Pellaeon is incorrectly described as an admiral in one of the answer choices. According to the Imperial rank chart in Star Wars: Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide, a 2023 reference book authored by Pablo Hidalgo and Emily Shkoukani, the insignia plaque Pellaeon wears in "The Path of Anger" signifies the rank of army captain. However, considering the 96th Task Force was a naval unit and Pellaeon is depicted as a captain in the Imperial Navy in his other appearances, this article assumes he held the rank of naval captain at that time.

The character Gilad Pellaeon was initially introduced in Heir to the Empire, a 1991 Star Wars Legends novel and the first book in The Thrawn Trilogy by Timothy Zahn. Zahn named the character after Pelleas, a knight from Arthurian legends, while the reference book The Essential Guide to Characters, written by Andy Mangels in 1995, provided his first name, "Gilad." Pellaeon's first illustration was by Allen Nunis and Xeno Beckwith in Heir to the Empire Sourcebook, a 1992 roleplaying game supplement and reference guide to Zahn's novel, published by West End Games for their Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.

Within these Legends narratives, Captain Pellaeon was a significant military officer who acted as the right-hand man to Grand Admiral Thrawn during Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic after the Battle of Endor. Pellaeon also played a crucial part in many other Legends stories, becoming the founding leader of the Imperial Remnant and signing a peace treaty with the New Republic, bringing an end to the Galactic Civil War. His frequent appearances over two decades solidified Pellaeon as a beloved Legends character among fans.