Saw Gerrera

Saw Gerrera was a human male Onderonian resistance fighter who, as a leading member of the Onderon rebels, fought against the Confederacy of Independent Systems on Onderon during the Clone Wars. He and his sister, Steela Gerrera, were instrumental in the rebel liberation of their homeworld during the Onderonian Civil War. Following the rise of the Galactic Empire at the end of the war, Saw became a key member in the fight against the fascist government and the formation of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. His tactics during the early rebellion against the Empire led him to be seen as an extremist, one whose notoriety was recognized by both the Empire, the Alliance, and, many years later, the New Republic.

In the early resistance against the Separatist Alliance on Onderon, Gerrera and his fellow soldiers were outnumbered and outgunned by the Separatist Droid Army. They requested help from the Jedi High Council, which led the Grand Army of Republic in its fight against the Separatists, but the Jedi Order chose not to become actively involved in the fighting on Onderon. Instead, they sent a team of advisors—Generals Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Commander Ahsoka Tano, and Clone Captain Rex—to train the Onderonian fighters. The Jedi and Captain Rex taught them proper techniques and strategies for taking on the battle droid army, and, through their efforts, the rebels began to turn the tide. Gerrera came to resent that the rebels chose Steela as their leader, and he was soon captured in an ill-concocted solo effort to rescue the deposed King Ramsis Dendup from the Separatists. They were both rescued by the rebels, who eventually mounted a final battle against the Separatists. Through their efforts, the rebels liberated their world and returned Dendup to the throne. The fight, however, came at a personal cost: Steela was killed during the final battle, and Gerrera was left to mourn his sister—feeling responsible for her death.

At the end of the Clone Wars, the Republic was transformed into the Galactic Empire. Horrified, Gerrera and his fellow Onderonians resisted the Empire, and the Empire, despite the fact that Saw and his team had been instrumental in the liberation of Onderon, branded them as insurgents. Gerrera managed to evade Imperial capture, and he continued to fight against the Empire. During this time, Saw relocated Imperial scientist Galen Erso, his wife, Lyra, and their daughter, Jyn, to the uninhabited planet of Lah'mu. When Orson Krennic, an old friend of Galen's, discovered their location and took Galen away and killed Lyra, Saw traveled to Lah'mu, adopted Jyn, and raised her, all the while claiming that she was his own daughter.

Gerrera fought against the Imperial Military and led a resistance group known as the Partisans, a militant organization that some considered an extremist organization, using terrorist tactics and operating under the codename, "Stoneface." His resistance cell, a continuation of his Onderonian resistance, was one of the first in the group of cells that formed the Rebel Alliance. He was later involved in the early campaigns of the Rebel Alliance, by which time his more-extreme tactics had come to stand in stark contrast with those of Alliance leaders Bail Organa and Mon Mothma. Gerrera eventually cut ties with Organa and Mothma, who viewed him as a militant and extremist.

Having learned that the Empire's massive kyber crystal had come from Jedha, Saw and the Partisans based their operation there. After the capture of an Imperial ensign, Bodhi Rook, who claimed that the Empire was building a planet-killer, Saw was reunited with Jyn, whom the Alliance had sent to meet with him. Since Rook had sent him a message from Jyn's father, Gerrera showed it to her, which revealed that the Empire was constructing a planet-killing superweapon called the Death Star. As the message played, however, the Death Star struck Jedha City and destroyed it. As the ripple of the explosion reached them, Gerrera told Jyn he was done running and stayed at the base, and was killed by the aftermath of the blast.

Text and facts from the “Saw Gerrera” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.