A loyal companion to Rebel spy Tay Vanis during the Galactic Civil War, LE-914, more commonly known as Ellie, was a LE manifest droid. She was with Vanis on numerous missions for the Rebel Alliance until 3 ABY. In that year, Vanis was assigned the task of obtaining Bothan intelligence concerning a new Imperial superweapon. Facing pursuit by the Empire, Vanis and Ellie escaped to Dennaskar, where Vanis entrusted the Bothan data to Ellie before he disappeared. Later, Ellie encountered a group of Rebels who were searching for Vanis. She assisted them in locating Vanis at an Imperial prison on a specific world. Discovering that her master had been tortured and his mind wiped, Ellie gave the Bothan tapes to the Rebels and then destroyed herself, Vanis, and the Imperial facility.
LE-914, often called "Ellie," was a LE manifest droid originally designed for shipping management by Cybot Galactica. Eventually, LE-914 began working for Tay Vanis, a Rebel Alliance spy hailing from the planet of Telfrey. This marked the start of a long-term partnership that spanned the most intense periods of the Galactic Civil War. Ellie stood by Vanis during countless missions, evolving into the Human's most trusted confidante. In 3 ABY, Vanis and his longtime comrade, Yom Argo, were sent on a mission to retrieve intelligence gathered by Bothan spies about the construction of a new Imperial superweapon. However, soon after securing the intelligence, they realized that the Empire was tracking them. Vanis and Argo decided to separate; Vanis, accompanied by Ellie, carried the Bothan tapes, while Argo went back to the Rebel fleet to seek assistance.
Vanis tried to evade the Imperial pursuit by jumping between planets along a planned route, but his good fortune ended on Dennaskar when his X-wing crashed in a dense jungle. Knowing capture was imminent, Vanis gave the Bothan tapes to Ellie, instructing her to destroy the intel if she didn't hear from him within 48 hours. Vanis then disappeared, but Ellie kept the tapes hidden. She integrated into the local community by acting as a typical manifest droid at a nearby Imperial base. The disappearance of Vanis and Argo—who had died in a crash on Lahsbane—led the Rebellion to dispatch a team led by Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa on a critical mission to recover the Bothan intelligence. They found Ellie during their search on Dennaskar. When they asked Ellie to access information about Vanis, it triggered an alarm, drawing a squad of stormtroopers and forcing the Rebels to escape with Ellie.
Before being locked out of the Imperial system, Ellie managed to find Vanis's location. Once aboard the Rebels' ship, the Millennium Falcon, Ellie guided them to the abandoned castle where Vanis was being held as a prison. Now aware of Vanis's exact location, Ellie left the Millennium Falcon to find her master, finding him in his cell deep inside the castle. After being captured by the Empire, Vanis had been brutally tortured by the Sith Lord Darth Vader, leaving him barely alive. The Rebels followed Ellie to Vanis's cell. Ellie revealed that the spy they had been searching for was already essentially dead. She then passed the Bothan tapes to the Rebel droid C-3PO before embracing Vanis and activating her self-destruct mechanism, killing them both and destroying the entire facility.
LE-914 served Tay Vanis for most of Vanis's adult life, resulting in an unusually close bond. Vanis completely trusted Ellie. In return, Ellie was utterly loyal to Vanis and willing to sacrifice herself to end his suffering. As a LE manifest droid, Ellie was designed to excel at clerical tasks and data management, particularly in shipping and import/export regulations. However, Ellie differed from typical LE units in her capacity for deception. LE droids were known for their strict honesty, which contributed to the LE line's discontinuation. Vanis specifically modified Ellie for high-stress scenarios, enhancing her physical resilience by replacing her torso plating with blaster-resistant armorplast. She also had a hidden compartment for contraband and a built-in proton bomb with self-destruct controls.
LE-914 made her debut in Star Wars (1977) 80, penned by Mary Jo Duffy and published in 1983. Ron Frenz provided the illustrations for LE-914, using an early concept drawing of C-3PO by Ralph McQuarrie as inspiration for her design.