Jolli

Jolli, a Human, spent her formative years as a fugitive's daughter, constantly on the move from the Galactic Empire. For a period, Jolli and her parents resided within an outlaw sanctuary situated on a remote world, but during her early childhood, the Empire located her father and launched an assault on their stronghold. Amidst the ensuing conflict, Jolli's father made the decision to abandon Jolli and her mother, deeming them liabilities to his continued escape from justice. Left behind amidst the smoldering ruins of their home, Jolli was soon orphaned when an Imperial aerial torpedo claimed her mother's life. Abandoned on the fringes of the galaxy, Jolli matured into a short-fused, man-hating mercenary possessing considerable skill with a blaster. Eventually, Jolli embraced piracy, becoming a member of the infamous gang led by the individual known as Crimson Jack. Jolli subsequently established her residence on Crimson Jack's battlecruiser, a former Imperial Star Destroyer acquired by Jack after it sustained damage during an engagement with Rebels.

Despite her relative newness to the world of piracy by 0 ABY, Jolli rapidly distinguished herself as one of Crimson Jack's most dependable enforcers, refining her skills as Jack's gang raided hapless ships throughout the galaxy. In that year, Jack's tractor beam captured a particularly noteworthy vessel: the Millennium Falcon, the personal freighter of Han Solo, a well-known smuggler, Rebel hero, and associate of Jack's. Jolli accompanied Jack as part of the boarding party, leveling a blaster at Solo and his Wookiee companion Chewbacca when they contemplated resistance. Although Solo nearly provoked Jolli into initiating a firefight, Jack intervened to calm her down, and together they plundered the ship, discovering a treasure trove that astonished Jolli—but not before planting a homing beacon on the vessel.

Jack's gang soon encountered another significant prize: Princess Leia Organa, a former Senator of Alderaan and a leader within the rebellion, whom they captured while she was traveling alone through the starlanes. Despite their hopes of securing a substantial ransom from the Rebels in exchange for Organa's safety, the Princess proved to be more resilient than anticipated. Instead, Jolli and the gang tracked down the Falcon, intercepting it as it departed the planet Aduba-3 and once again seizing control of the vessel. However, this time their intentions were not to simply rob Solo and Chewbacca. Rather, they intended to subject the smugglers to a slow and agonizing demise, using them as an example to Organa of the potential consequences of non-compliance. Setting their blasters to inflict slow burns, Jolli and several gunmen opened fire on their captives, only to be overwhelmed by the formidable Wookiee Chewbacca, who effortlessly shrugged off the blasts and incapacitated several of Jolli's men.

In the ensuing standoff, Solo and Crimson Jack opted to negotiate, with Solo promising to assist them in acquiring an even greater treasure than the gang had previously taken from him. Jolli, Jack, Solo, Organa, and Chewbacca convened in Jack's private quarters for a feast, where the atmosphere became more convivial, although Jolli maintained her blaster trained on Solo throughout. Solo revealed that he and Organa were acquainted: Solo had previously been rewarded by the Rebel Alliance for rescuing the Princess from the Empire's clutches, and the two had developed a romantic relationship, which Organa seemingly confirmed before feigning an attack on Solo. She then claimed that the Rebel treasury was located within the Drexel system. Jolli escorted Organa back to her cell in the ship's brig. While Jolli expressed a degree of admiration for Organa's handling of the situation, her respect quickly devolved into a burst of anger when Organa complimented Solo's kissing ability, which triggered Jolli's deep-seated animosity towards men.

Organa's remark about kissing had a lasting impact on Jolli, igniting an interest in Solo that simultaneously captivated and repulsed her, plunging her into fits of rage. After the battleship approached the Drexel system, Jolli made a comment about kissing while in the ship's hangar, prompting several crewmen to make advances towards her—Jolli responded by unleashing a barrage of blaster fire, nearly killing them all in the process. Crimson Jack arrived in time to disarm her, but agitated by Solo's presence, Jolli delivered a forceful slap to the Corellian smuggler. Despite the violent outburst, Jolli soon resumed her position at Jack's side as the ship entered range of Drexel. However, upon arrival, the ship's scanners revealed that Drexel was a waterworld, rendering it an impractical location for a Rebel Alliance base. The crew suspected foul play. Jack believed that the Rebels could not possibly maintain a treasury on such a world, and fearing that Solo was attempting to deceive them, Jolli and her captain drew their blasters.

Faced with the threat of drawn weapons, Solo requested that Organa be brought up from the ship's brig, assuring them that she could provide an explanation. Jolli was tasked with escorting Organa to the bridge, although the journey became tense after Organa suggested that Jolli's animosity towards Solo might stem from an attraction to him. However, shortly after Jolli and Organa reached the bridge, the entire cruiser was shaken by some sort of gravity disturbance: a sonic jammer operated by ship wreckers on Drexel's surface had ensnared the craft and was attempting to pull it in. Her thoughts still consumed by her attraction to Han Solo, Jolli was caught off guard by Organa, who managed to slip away with Solo and Chewbacca and reach the Millennium Falcon, fleeing to the planet below.

However, the situation was far from resolved. Although the crew of the Millennium Falcon succeeded in disabling the sonic jammer that had been holding them captive on Drexel, Crimson Jack's gang remained in orbit, awaiting an opportunity to ambush Solo and his companions. Anticipating a confrontation, Jack assigned Jolli to oversee repairs on his starfighter squadron, most of which had sustained damage during Solo's escape. Under Jolli's supervision, three of the craft were restored to operational status, which Jack deemed sufficient. With a showdown with Solo imminent, Jack informed Jolli that he intended to exploit her bloodthirsty nature to its fullest potential. Placed at the controls of a Y-wing fighter and leading the three-person Raider Squadron, Jolli was dispatched to Drexel's surface, opening fire on the Millennium Falcon and pursuing it back into the crosshairs of the two other fighters in space. However, despite their attempts to force the Falcon into the cruiser's tractor beam, Solo skillfully evaded the oncoming fighters, and the Falcon's guns eliminated Jolli's two squadmates.

Alone and with the Falcon closing in on her, Jolli responded by charging directly towards Solo's freighter, attempting to evade the ship without exposing herself to the Falcon's laser cannons. She nearly succeeded, scraping her Y-wing across the ship's hull and inflicting significant damage on both the Falcon and her own fighter. The impact caused Jolli's craft to lose control, and as the Y-wing began to break apart, Jolli radioed in a request for Crimson Jack to deploy a magnetic pulse beam to retrieve her. However, Jack refused, fearing that it would interfere with his signal system, leaving Jolli to fend for herself. Enraged, Jolli resolved that if she were to perish, she would take Jack down with her. As Jack met Solo in space to negotiate, Jolli steered the crippled remains of her Y-wing towards Jack's battlecruiser, weapons blazing. As her cannons eliminated Jack's backups outside the ship, Jolli initiated a suicide run on the cruiser—as she collided with the ship's munitions deck, her Y-wing's remaining live torpedos triggered an explosion that completely destroyed the cruiser. Shortly thereafter, Solo shot and killed Jack, the sole survivor of the blast. While searching the wreckage, Solo and Organa discovered Jolli's corpse within the mangled remains of her Y-wing. Before departing Drexel in the Millennium Falcon, Solo bestowed upon Jolli the kiss that she had once obsessed over.

Jolli, proficient with a blaster and a skilled starfighter pilot, possessed an exceptionally short fuse and was quick to anger, readily resorting to violence at the slightest provocation. Often, the only individual capable of calming her down was her superior, Crimson Jack. Jack attributed this to Jolli's relative inexperience in the world of piracy: he preferred that she keep her weapon holstered, as extracting credits from corpses proved challenging. Jolli's anger often surprised and disturbed her with its suddenness, although a consistent trigger was a deep-seated animosity towards men that she harbored throughout much of her life. Jolli was driven by a desire to be tougher and more formidable than any man around her, fueling her hostility towards the male sex. This stemmed from her father's abandonment of her during her childhood, as his assertion that she and her mother were not "good enough" instilled in her a constant need to prove her worth to those around her. This insecurity had an effect on the people working under her: when serving as a flight commander, she constantly felt the need to assert that she was in charge, irritating her fellow pilots.

However, upon encountering Han Solo, Jolli developed an attraction to the smuggler, which, in conjunction with her loathing of men, created a dangerous combination. Jolli became obsessed with the idea of kissing Solo after a comment from Leia Organa—she soon began discussing it unprompted with crewmates on the ship, and exploding with rage when they responded with advances. Jolli's attraction to Solo was apparent to those around her, but the pirate responded with angry denial whenever it was pointed out. Although Jolli seethed with barely suppressed hostility towards most people she interacted with, she held some respect for Organa, admiring her ability to handle Solo. However, she was jealous of Organa's presence on board, lashing out by flirting with Jack's crewmen and then rejecting them. The pirate was known for wearing skimpy clothes, but her sartorial choices were expressly not to please men: rather, they had a combat application, giving her maximum freedom of motion. Jolli had purple hair and green eyes.

Jolli made her debut appearance in Star Wars (1977) 7, penned by Roy Thomas and released in 1977. Jolli later reappeared to become a significant supporting character in a story arc commencing with Star Wars (1977) 11, before meeting her demise in Star Wars (1977) 15. During her appearances in the Marvel Star Wars series, Jolli was illustrated by Howard Chaykin and Carmine Infantino.